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RELIGION; 

NATURAL AND REVEALED: 

OR, THE 

NATURAL THEOLOGY 

AND 

MORAL BEARINGS OF PHRENOLOGY 

AND PHYSIOLOGY: 

INCLUDING THE 

DOCTRINES TAUGHT AND DUTIES INCULCATED 
THEREBY, 

COMPARED WITH THOSE 

ENJOINED IN THE SCRIPTURES. 

TOGETHER WITH THE 

PHRENOLOGICAL EXPOSITION OF THE DOCTRINES OF A FUTURE STATE, 

MATERIALISM, HOLINESS, SIN, 

REWARDS, PUNISHMENTS, DEPRAVITY, 

A CHANGE OF HEART, WILL, FOREORDINATION, 
FATALISM, ETC. ETC. 



BY O. S. TOWLER, 



PRACTICAL PHRENOLOGIST, EDITOR OF THE AM. PHR. JOURNAL, 
AUTHOR OF FOWLER'S PHRENOLOGY, HEREDITARY DESCENT, PHRENOLOGY 
APPLIED TO EDUCATION AND SELF-IMPROVEMENT, DO- TO MATRI- 
MONY, DO. TO MEMORY, TEMPERANCE, ETC. 

Truth always harmonizes with itself. 

SECOND EDITION— ENLARGED AND IMPROVED. 

NEW YORK: 

Published by 0. S. Fowler, 131 Nassau St., Clinton Hall; Saxton & Peirce, and Jordan 
& Co., Washington St., Boston ; Colon & Co., Arcade, Philadelphia; J. A. Hop- 
kins & Co., Syracuse, N. Y. ; E. A. Smith, Erwinton, S. C. ; M. J. Grier, 
Hamilton, Canada West : and Booksellers generally. 

1844: 



SEARING & PRALL, PRINTERS. 



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Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1844, Z>y 0. S. Fowler, in the 
Clerk's Office of the U. S. Southern District Court of the State of New-York. 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER I. 

THE FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF MAN'S MORAL AND RELIGIOUS 
NATURE. 

Sect. I. — Man constitutionally moral and religious, . . 15 

II. — The foundation of man's moral and religious nature, 29 

III. — The location of the moral organs, and general re- 

flections on their faculties, . . .33 

CHAPTER II. 

THE ANALYSIS OF THE MORAL FACULTIES, AND THE INFERENCES 
CONSEQUENT THEREON. 

Sect. I. — Veneration. — Its analysis, and the existence of a God. 46 

II. — The true religion and the false. . . 61 

III.— The Sabbath, ..... 77 

IV. — Revivals of religion, .... 79 

V. — Religious teachers, or preachers, . . .83 

VI. — Religious societies or associations, . 86 

VII. — Prayer. — Its duty. — Its efficacy. . - .89 

VIII. — Religious creeds, ceremonies, observances, &c. 92 

CHAPTER III. 

THE SPIRITUAL. 

Sect. I. — Spirituality, or marvellousness. — Its analysis and 

bearings. . . . . .94 

Sect. II. — Spirituality continued. — Inferences, . . .102 



IV CONTENTS. 

Sect. III. — Special providences. 106 

Sect. IV. — Conversion ; the operations of the Holy Ghost ; 

Divine grace ; faith, &c 109 

Sect. V. — A change of heart continued — objections answered. Ill 
Sect. VI. — Materialism. — Objection answered. . . .114 

CHAPTER IV. 

HOPE, AND ITS BEARINGS. A FUTURE STATE. 

Sect. I. — Analysis, location, and bearings of Hope. - . 117 
Sect. II. — Hope continued. — Miscellaneous inferences. . .126 

CHAPTER V. 

BENEVOLENCE. ITS ANALYSIS, AND THE TRUTHS TAUGHT THEREBY. 

Sect. I. — The function of benevolence, and the duty and plea- 
sure of doing good 128 

CHAPTER VI. 

CONSCIENTIOUSNESS. ITS ANALYSIS AND BEARINGS. 

SecT. I. — Conscience innate 140 

Sect. II. — -The nature and rationale of right and wrong ; or, 

the foundation of moral obligation. . . . 144 

Sect. III. — What is right, and what wrong ? . . . .154 
Sect. IV. — Depravity. — Its origin — its extent — its conditions — 

its causes — its remedy 161 

Sect. V. — Punishment, here and hereafter, . . . 166 

Sect. VI. — Penitence and pardon. 1 69 

Conclusion 174 



PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. 



Probably no subject whatever, is fraught with interest more in- 
tense, or attended with consequences more momentous, than a compa- 
rison of the doctrines inculcated, and the duties required, by Phreno- 
logy, with those enjoined by the Bible. 

For about 1800 years, has the religion of Jesus Christ, and for 
several thousand years, have the Scriptures exerted an all-control- 
ling influence over the intellects, the emotions, and the conduct of 
mankind — engrossing the feelings, shaping the lives, occupying the 
minds, and filling the souls, of untold millions of the human family. 
Nor does, or should this interest diminish. 

Phrenology is also now every where becoming a subject of all- 
absorbing interest ; and well it may, for it is founded in Truth. It 
must, it will prevail. It is a demonstrative science. It is built upon 
facts, infinite in both variety and number. It developes and evolves 
those laws in harmony with which God created both man and the 
whole range of animated nature. Every living creature that now 
inhabits earth, air, or water, is a living, incontestible evidence of 
its truth, as are also all that ever have lived, or that will ever inhabit 
our globe. And men have eyes to see these facts, as well as intellect 
enough to perceive that they establish the truth of Phrenology beyond 
all cavil or controversy. And they are fast opening their eyes to 
these facts, and yielding to the irresistible evidence that Phrenology 
is true. Nor is it possible for any intelligent mind candidly to exam- 
ine either the facts or the principles of this science, without becoming 
convinced of its truth, and enamored with its doctrines. Men cannot 
help believing it, any more than they can help seeing what they look 
at, or feeling fire when they touch it. All must and will admit its 



Vlll PREFACE. 

truth. Many already believe it. Indeed, it is now acquiring and 
exerting a moral power which nothing — absolutely nothing-— can 
gainsay or resist. It is crushing beneath the car of its triumphal pro- 
gress whatever and whoever resist or oppose its advancement. In 
connexion with a sister science, it is sweeping into oblivion those old 
theories, unnatural customs, and erroneous institutions, by which past 
ages have been enthralled, and even the present is yet spell-bound. 
So great is its moral power, that it will prostrate and ride over what- 
ever religious doctrines, forms, or practices conflict with it. If even 
the Bible could be found to clash therewith, then would the Bible go by 
the board. Nothing could save it ; for it would war with Truth, and 
must suffer defeat. But, if it be found to harmonize with Phrenology, 
then is it based upon the rock of Truth, and defended and supported 
by those immutable laws of Nature which the all-wise Creator has 
instituted for its government ; so that neither can infidelity scathe its 
walls, nor atheism find the least support for its monstrocities ; both 
being overthrown by this science. 

In this view of the subject, how all-absorbing the interest, how over- 
whelming the importance, how momentous the results, of a compari- 
son of the religion of Phrenology with the religion of the Bible ! My 
pen falters ! Must I proceed ? I feel utterly inadequate to the task, 
and yet I feel that this neglected task should be and must be under- 
taken. Though the objections that Phrenology favors infidelity and 
fatalism, have been often and ably refuted, yet the real principles de- 
veloped, doctrines taught, and life required by Phrenology, have never 
yet been fully and fairly compared or contrasted with the theology 
and code of morals of the Bible. That is, the natural theology and 
moral bearings of Phrenology, and the theology and requirements of 
the Scriptures, have never yet been placed side by side, to see 
wherein they harmonize, or wherein they differ. This ought cer- 
tainly to be done. It has been studiously, if not improperly, avoided. 
No one has stood in the breach, while erring humanity demands 
the TRUTH on this all-important subject. No leaning to infidelity 
on the one hand — no truckling to sectarianisms on the other. Let us 



PREFACE. IX 

appeal to philosophy. The truth is required, without fear, without 
favor, without stint. 

I know full well that no other task requires more moral courage 
than this. I know that men cling with more tenacity to their religion 
than to all else besides. What enmity is as strong, what prejudices 
are as inveterate, as those awakened by tearing one's religion from 
him ? Like Micah, he exclaims, " Ye have taken away my GODS, 
what have I more?" 

Still, I despair not. My hope of success in this arduous and haz- 
ardous undertaking, rests in the power of truth. This power will ul- 
timately bear down all prejudice, and break through all opposition. 
It will force men to abandon their religious errors, and to plant them- 
selves upon the broad platform of the nature of man. That nature, 
Phrenology unfolds. Sooner or later, must the religion of Phrenolo- 
gy become the religion of man. The outlines of that religion, will be 
pointed out in this work. The present generation may slumber over 
these truths — may even scout and reject them. Even future genera- 
tions may live uncheered by the sun of moral science, and die unen- 
lightened by its rays. But the time will come when its general 
principles will govern the religious creed and the practices of man- 
kind. Then will the fiery star of sectarianism set in eternal night, 
never more to torment mankind with its malignant rays. Then will 
religious bigotry and intolerance cease for ever. Then will unre- 
strained religious liberty pervade our happy earth. Then will all 
men see eye to eye and face to face. Then will a holy life and a 
spotless soul in this world, be but the enterance of man into the enjoy- 
ment of the immortal and boundless bliss which his moral faculties are 
calculated to pour into the human soul, both here and hereafter. Come, 
glorious day ! come quickly. 

And I derive no little encouragement, J;hat it is " nigh, even at the 
door," from the fact that the religious belief of very many good peo- 
ple, is extremely unsettled. Now, mankind hardly know what to 
believe. Too long already have they been getting their thinking 
done out ; and they begin to see it. They are no longer willing to 
have it done by proxy. They are unwilling, as formerly, to pin their 



PREFACE. 



faith on the sleeve even of the parson. They desire to think for them- 
selves. They are even determined to think for themselves. But they 
have no data — no starting points, no base line, no fixed and settled 
first principles — at which to commence, and with which to compare. 
These first principles are to be found in the natural theology, and 
the natural religion, of Phrenology. This science dissects and un- 
folds man's moral nature — its primary faculties, its original elements. 
It does this so clearly that man cannot fail to perceive and adopt the 
religious doctrines it teaches, and to practice the duties it requires. 
Rid any mind of preconceived prejudices, and in one year will the truth 
of Phrenology thoroughly renovate that mind, and purify the life. 
These prejudices are giving way. The last ten years have liberal- 
ized mankind more than ages have ever done before. The next ten 
years, will witness a moral and a religious revolution greater than all 
past ages put together have yet witnessed. Antiquated errors are tot- 
tering at their base. The darkness of the past is fleeing before the 
dawn of Millennial truth. That truth is now being developed by the 
daily and astonishingly rapid spread of that knowledge of the moral 
nature and constitution of man imparted by Phrenology. To expound 
this moral nature, and to show what religious fruit grows thereon, is 
the end and aim of this little volume. Imperfect in authorship, but 
rich in subject matter. Defective in style, but deep in fundamental 
truth. Requiring some minor qualifications, but tenable in every ma- 
terial position, as well as unanswerable in every leading argument. 
It asks no favor, but investigation — it yields nothing to the religions 
that be. Its pathway is philosophy. Its goal is eternal right. Strew- 
ed behind it in all its course, are the nauseating carcasses of hydra- 
headed error in all its forms. It stands high on the hill of Science. 
Its roots run deep into the nature of man. Its branches yield all man- 
ner of delicious fruits, for the healing of the nations, and the renova- 
tion of mankind. Its moral truths are food to the hungry, a cooling 
beverage to the thirsty soul, a foundation to those whom the tides of 
error are sweeping onward to destruction, and a feast of reason, with 
a flow of soul, to all — sight to the blind, feet to the lame, health to the 
invalid, vitality to the dying, and life to the dead. 



PREFACE. 



A word in reference to the qualification ot its Editor for properly 
presenting this subject. That he is thoroughly versed in Phrenology, 
and especially in that practical department of it which gives him just 
that very knowledge of the workings or manifestations of the moral 
faculties, in all their phases and combinations, that is required, almost 
every American reader will rest assured from what he already knows 
of his works and standing. That no other man, his brother excepted, 
is equally well qualified in this respect, is a matter of fact, and not of 
egotism. 

Nor is he ignorant, either theoretically or experimentally, of what 
is considered genuine religion. Brought up by a mother eminently 
godly and devout, and by a father long a deacon and a staunch pillar 
in the Congregational Churches, religiously from childhood, and fa- 
miliar with both the Bible and the peculiar doctrines of most of the 
sects ; he brings to the discussion of this subject not only an intimate 
knowledge of that science in which his deductions are based, but also 
a minute acquaintance with the commonly received religious notions 
and practices of the age. 

Nor will these deductions be materially affected by their authorship. 
That affects only the manner in which they are presented. Still, the 
only drawback experienced by the work consists in the haste with 
which it has been sent to press — a haste induced by a literal pressure 
of professional engagements, lecturing, business, &c, which must 
otherwise have postponed it indefinitely. To this, the public would 
not consent. The public have said with emphasis, " Let us have 
the work. Be it imperfect as to style — be its authorship defective- 
still, at some rate — at all events, give us the work." And the Author 
feels that it will, that it must, do good — the sole object for which it 
was written. He feels that no one can rise from a careful perusal of 
its contents, without being benefitted thereby. 

It remains only to add, that the Author takes it for granted, that the 
reader admits and understands the fundamental doctrines of Phre- 
nology. Taking for granted that the truths established by this 
science are admitted, he proceeds to investigate the moral and religious 



XXI PREFACE. 

principles laid down, and the duties pointed out, thereby, and to com- 
pare them with the fundamental doctrines taught, and duties enjoined, 
by the Bible. Nor will there be any evasion of knotty points ; any 
temporizing with popular prejudices. But it will contain a full, fear- 
less, manly, expounding of truth, and exposition of error. Dismiss 
prejudice. Read ; ponder ; investigate. Decide. Receive the good. 
Reject the bad. 



PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. 



In less than nine months after the publication of this work, an edi- 
tion of over two thousand copies has been exhausted. This unex- 
pected sale makes it necessary to put a second edition to press too 
soon to allow the Author the requisite time to revise it for that pur- 
pose and make as extensive improvements as he has hitherto contem- 
plated. Still, he has taken scraps of time from other labors to rewrite 
some portions of it, transpose others, make copious additions, and, as 
a whole, greatly to improve it. 

The chapter on the nature of right and wrong, and the origin or 
foundation of moral obligation, (or on the constitutional elements of 
the sinfulness of sin and the virtue of holiness,) as well as on the 
causes and cure of human depravity, will be not only new, but also 
directly in the teeth of all prevailing notions on this subject. Of 
course, therefore, it will be unpopular. Be it so. Be it as it may. 
With that matter, the Author does not concern himself. It concerns 
the reader — it affects his happiness, not mine — whether it be accepted 
or rejected. That this analysis of virtue and sin cannot be contro- 
verted, is certain. That it will plough a deep and wide furrow 
through the field of truth, now overgrown with the thorns and the 
brambles of popular error, is also certain. But it will prepare that 
field for a rich harvest of human happiness and virtue. In short, let 
not the reader be startled with any thing contained in these pages ; 
but let him come up with bold, manly thought to an unbiased exami- 
nation of their entire contents. 

The first edition was received with a much better spirit than the 
Author anticipated. He expected that its fearless exposition of secta- 
rianism, its reproving the churches for admitting the fashions into 



XIV PREFACE. 

them on the Sabbath, &c.j as well as its bold advancement of some 
unpalatable truths, and fearless exposition of some glaring but gene- 
rally received errors ; would have subjected it and him to odium. 
But he finds that men can bear the truth much better than he sup- 
posed they could. He finds that they even love it. He expected infi- 
delity would come down upon him on the one hand, for exposing 
some of its errors ; and religionists upon the other, for tearing from 
them some of their darling dogmas. But he finds that nearly all like it. 
He finds, that in matters of religion, men differ much less than they 
suppose they do. They divide on names more than on things. And 
what is more, there are some fundamental religious truths which all 
see and admit — a broad platform of common ground, which all re- 
cognize as such. And Phrenology will bring all on to this platform. 
And may this little volume go forth upon the angry sea of secta- 
rian contention, to calm its troubled waters ; to harmonize conflicting 
elements, and to disseminate truth, and love, and moral purity among 
mankind. 



RELIGION, 
NATURAL AND REVEALED, ETC. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF MAN'S MORAL AND 
RELIGIGUS NATURE. 



SECTION I. 

MAN CONSTITUTIONALLY MORAL AND RELIGIOUS. 

Man is constitutionally a moral being. He is also naturally reli- 
gious. Indeed, piety of some kind, and religion in some form, have 
ever constituted, and still constitute, one of the leading motives, one of 
the all-engrossing pursuits, of mankind. Strike from the page of his- 
tory, and from the mind and conduct of mankind, every thing apper- 
taining to morals and religion, and the identity of both will be de- 
stroyed. Take his religion from the conceited Chinese, or from the 
benighted Hindoo, or from the degraded Ethiopean, or from the 
noble son of the forest, and each in his turn, with Micah, would 
exclaim, " Ye have taken away my GODS! what have I 
more ?" In fact, where is the nation or tribe — when and where have 
any existed — whose religion did not enter into the very texture of their 
minds, form their habits, mould their characters, shape and perpetuate 
their government and institutions, and even guide their intellect, as 
well as govern their whole conduct ? Without these moral elements, 
how ignoble, how depraved, would man have been ! But, with them, 
how exalted, how angelic, how godlike, is he capable of being and of 
becoming ! 

Nor is there any danger, or even possibility, that man will ever 
become less religious than he now is and always has been, any more 
than there is danger of his ceasing to become hungry or to breathe ; 



16 religion: natural and revealed. 170 

for religion is engrafted upon his very nature, or, rather, forms no 
inconsiderable portion thereof. This fact, established by the whole 
history of man, is demonstrated by Phrenology, in its showing that a 
large portion of the brain is appropriate to the development of the moral 
and religious organs. Till, therefore, the nature of man is essentially 
remodelled, that nature will compel him to have a religion of some 
kind. The great danger is, not that mankind can ever become irre- 
ligious, for that is impossible, but that his religious faculties will still 
continue to combine, as they always have combined, with his predo- 
minant propensities, instead of with his feebler intellect. For it is a 
fully established law of Phrenology, that large organs combine in ac- 
tion more readily and powerfully with the other organs that are large, 
than with those that are smaller. Man's intellectual lobe being usu- 
ally much inferior in size to his animal, the great danger is that his 
moral faculties will still continue to unite with his propensities ; and 
hence, that he will still make his religion the scape-goat of his sins. 
Always has his religion been the servant of his pride, of his unbri- 
dled lusts, of his sinful passions. It continues to do this. So that 
his religion, designed and calculated to make him better, actually 
makes him the worse, and the more miserable. But, let the moral 
sentiments combine with a vigorous and an unperverted intellect, in 
conjunction with a healthy organization, and incalculably will they 
ennoble, adorn, and happify mankind. That their power, both for 
good and for evil, exceeds all computation, is evident from the whole 
history of man, as well as from the nature of the faculties themselves. 

How important, then, that man should understand his moral nature, 
and obey its laws ! In common with every other department of his 
nature, it has its laws. To suppose otherwise, is to charge God fool- 
ishly, by supposing that he has neglected to establish the dominion 
of laws, and to arrange first principles in one of the most important 
departments of the nature of man. With this neglect, the Almighty 
is not chargeable. Of the benefits resulting from the establishment of 
these laws, man is not deprived. So far therefrom, fixed laws, im- 
mutable first principles, reign supreme in this, as they do in every 
other, department of nature. 

Nor are these laws a sealed book to man. They are not locked up 
from his moral vision. Like the glorious sun of the natural day, 
they were made to rise upon every son and daughter of creation, 
and to throw a clear beam of light and truth throughout every human 
soul. Not a single dark corner exists but is capable of being illumin- 
ed by the sun of moral truth. All have moral eyes. All can perceive 



171 MAN A MORAL AND RELIGIOUS BEING. 17 

moral truth. All can follow in the paths of morality and virtue. None 
need ever stumble upon the dark mountains of error, or be lost in the 
mist of superstition, or make shipwreck upon the rock of bigotry y or 
be swallowed up in the vortex of infidelity. Moral science exists as 
much as physical. Moral science is even as demonstrable as mathemati- 
cal or anatomical, or any other science. The very fact that man has a 
moral nature, is prima facie evidence that nature has its laws, and that 
those laws can be known and read of all mankind. To suppose that 
man cannot arrive at a certain knowledge of moral and religious 
truth, is to suppose that the Deity has sealed or blinded the eyes of 
man touching this important matter. Who believes this? No one, 
surely. All men can come to the moral light of our nature. Sectarian- 
ism need not exist. It should not exist. Truth is the sure light. 
Truth is come-at-able^ to use a common, but appropriate, word. 
Error in this matter is a most grievous evil. Moral and religious 
truth is most desirable. If moral laws exist. They must not be 
violated. They must be obeyed. They may be known. They are 
not a candle hid under a bushel. They are a light set upon an hill. 
All can come, should come, to this light, and be saved from religious 
error and sin. This light can be seen afar off, even unto the ends ot 
the earth, and by all flesh. Diversity of religious belief or prac- 
tice, need not and should not exist. Diversity pre-supposes error, and 
the greater this diversity, the greater the consequent error. And the 
greater this error, the more sinful, the more unhappy, the subject of 
that error. Sectarianism has no excuse. It is most pernicious ; for 
errors of practice grow out of errors in belief. And the greater either, 
the greater the other, and the more ruinous. If all would use unbias- 
ed leason along with their moral sentiments, all would come to the 
same results ; for, truth is one, and always consistent with itself. If 
men would only employ intellect in connexion with their moral na- 
ture, they would always believe right, and do right, and be perfect. 
Oh ! if man would but live in accordance with his moral constitution, 
how holy, how happy, would he be ! Religious errors, and dogmas 
would disappear like the morning fog before the rising sun, to be fol- 
lowed by a devotional spirit, and a virtuous life. But now, alas ! we 
grope our way in the midnight of superstition. We stumble upon 
the dark mountains of error on the one hand, while on the other, we 
plunge headlong into the miry slough of superstition, bigotry, and 
zeal without knowledge. And most sinful, most miserable, does this 
our religious nature, render us. 



18 religion: natural and revealed. 172 

But, light is breaking in upon the dark mists of all past ages. Ho, 
ye who would return from your wanderings and be delivered from 
your thraldroms and your errors, follow the beacon light of truth 
hoisted by Phrenology. It will clear up all difficulties. It will soke 
all moral problems. It will point out that religion which harmonizes 
with the nature of man, and is most conducive to personal happiness 
and general moral purity. For it is self-evident — is a philosophical 
axiom — that the moral nature of man must necessarily be in perfect 
harmony with the moral government of God, as well as with the 
moral constitution of the universe. If, therefore, Phrenology be true, 
it of course unfolds the moral nature of man, and, consequently, must 
be in perfect harmony therewith. So that, on the principle that any 
two things, each exactly like a third, are therefore like each other, it 
folio ws that the moral doctrines taught, and the duties inculcated, by 
Phrenology, must harmonize perfectly with the moral constitution of 
the universe ; because each, by supposition, accords with the nature of 
man. If Phrenology develope and harmonize with the nature of man, 
(which it must do if true,) and if this moral nature of man accord 
with the moral constitution of things, (which it must do, or nature will 
be found at war with herself,) then Phrenology, if true, must neces- 
sarily harmonize perfectly with the moral constitution of things. And 
vice versa. So that the moral constitution of things, the moral and 
religious nature of man, and the natural theology, the moral precepts, 
and the religious teachings, of Phrenology, must each harmonize per- 
fectly with all the others. 

And what is more, the moral constitution of the universe, and the 
government of God, must of course each harmonize with the moral 
character and attributes of the Deity, as well as with his natural 
kingdom. Hence, Phrenology, if true, must of necessity be found to 
harmonize perfectly with the moral character, attributes, and govern- 
ment of the great Creator and Governor of the universe. And if the 
Bible be also true, its doctrines, too, must tally exactly with those 
taught by Phrenology. But, if it be untrue, or, as far as it is erro- 
neous, will this science expose its errors, and point out " a more excel- 
lent way." If the original, constitutional, moral nature of man, as point- 
ed out by Phrenology, be found to harmonize with the Scriptures, 
they are confirmed by Phrenology, and derive an accession of evi- 
dence therefrom which no sophist can evade, or skeptic gainsay. But 
if they clash, then are they building their hopes of immortality upon a 
rotten foundation, which this science can and will sweep away. In other 
words ; if the Bible and Phrenology both be true, the moral precepts 



173 EACH REQUIRES THE AID OF THE OTHER. 19 

and duties inculcated in either, will harmonize perfectly with those 
taught in the other, and with the fundamental principles by which the 
universe itself, as well as the great Creator of all things, are 
governed ; hut if either be erroneous, it will conflict with the other. 
Hence, Christianity has nothing to fear, but every thing to hope. 
If it be built upon the rock of truth, it will be confirmed and demon- 
strated. If it stand on a sandy foundation, the sooner it is swept from 
under it, the better. And if its foundation, like the feet and toes of 
Nebuchadnezzar's image, be partly iron and partly miry clay — partly 
strong and partly weak, partly true and partly erroneous — we here 
have a moral touch-stone by which to try and test every moral creed 
and practice. Let us embrace it. Let all study its principles and 
follow its precepts, and they will be the better, and the more happy 
and useful. 

If it be objected, that the Bible is already an unerring moral guide, 
and a perfect standard of religious faith and practice, I answer. Then, 
why does every religious denomination in Christendom, and every 
member of every religious sect, besides multitudes of private indivi- 
duals, all claim to draw their peculiar doctrines and practices from 
the Eible, and even quote Scripture therefor, and that though their dif- 
ference be heaven wide. Do not Universalists quote chapter and 
verse as plausibly and as sincerely to prove the final salvation of all 
men, as do the orthodox in proof of the opposite doctrine that some 
will be assigned to eternal condemnation ? The Unitarian and the 
Trinitarian both claim to prove their respective but conflicting doc- 
trines each to the perfect satisfaction of himself and to the overthrow 
of the other, from the same Bible, and from not a few of the very same 
texts. The Baptist draws his doctrine of immersion from the same 
Bible from which sprinklers draw their opposite doctrine. Contro- 
versies without end have been held, and volumes without number 
written, to prove and to disprove, from the same Bible, doctrines as op- 
posite to each other as light and darkness, or heat and cold. Nor do 
the schisms of the Christian churches diminish. Indeed, they are in- 
creasing in number, and widening in extent continually. Every re- 
volving year gives birth to some new sect, and each of these opposing 
sects alone claim to have the Bible on their side, and give it as autho- 
rity against all who differ from them ; and from the same pages of 
the same Bible, each is reading himself into heaven, and all who dif- 
fer from him, into perdition. 

Now, if the Bible, " without note or comment," be an all-sufficient 
guide in matters of religious faith and practice, why this religious di- 



20 religion: natural and revealed. 174 

versity and contention % Why does it not corned all to adopt the 
same, doctrines and practices, and these the only correct ones ? If ex- 
periment, continued for four thousand years, and tried in all ages and 
by a vast majority of Christendom, can prove any thing, that experi- 
ment, or, rather, its total failure, and that too, under all circumstances, 
has proved incontestibly, that, taking man as he is, and the Bible as 
it is, the latter is not, and can never be, the all-sufficient religious guide 
and standard of the former. Nor is it possible for it ever to be so. Not 
that the fault is in the Bible. It is in man. But the Bible requires a 
help-meet — something to accompany, explain, and interpret it, as well 
as to enforce its doctrines and precepts. That help-meet is to be found 
in Phrenology. This science gives the natural constitution of man's 
moral and religious nature. That constitution is right. Whatever 
differs from it, is wrong. Whatever harmonizes with it, is right 
Whatever construction may be put upon the Bible, not in strict accord- 
ance with that nature, is a wrong construction. Phrenology covers 
the same ground that the Bible claims to cover — that of man's moral 
nature. Wherein the lines of the two run parallel to each other, both 
are correct. But wherein the Bible is so construed as to diverge in 
the least from Phrenology, though the Bible itself may be right, yet 
the construction put upon it, is wrong. Hence, with the book of 
Phrenology as the elements, and the Bible as the supplement, of reli- 
gion, it is to decypher out what is true, and to expose what is errone- 
ous. Each will interpret and enforce the other, and the two together 
will give a far more consistent and enlightened view of the true reli- 
gion, and of correct conduct, than either could do alone, as well as 
rectify all ignorant or bigoted perversions of either. 

It is worthy of remark in this connexion, that the Bible no where 
attempts to prove either the existence of a God, or any of the funda- 
mental truths of natural religion, such as of a future state, or the exist 
ence of first principles of right and wrong, &c. It takes these mat- 
ters for granted, assuming in the start, that man already admits and 
understands them. This is fully evinced by the manner of its com- 
mencement. It opens with the statement, that "In the beginning, 
God created the heavens and the earth," and proceeds to tell what God 
said and did, thus presupposing that his existence is already admitted, 
and his attributes understood. I do not now recollect a single argu- 
mentative attempt to prove his existence throughout the whole Bible. 
True, David breaks forth in the rapture, " The heavens declare the 
glory of God, and the earth showeth forth his handi-work," &c. ; but 
this is only an exclamation of adoration in view of the wonderous 



175 IMPORTANCE OF NATURAL THEOLOGY. 21 

works of God, not an argument to prove his existence. Indeed, the 
one distinctive object of Revelation, seems to be to make known the way 
of salvation by Christ, not to prove the existence or attributes of God. 
The latter was left for natural theology — for the very principles we 
are urging. Modern Christianity makes too much of her Bible, by 
ascribing to it more than it claims, or was ever designed to accomplish. 
Christianity, or the doctrines of the Bible, are onry the supplement of 
religion, while natural theology, or the existence of a God, or the fun- 
damental principles of religion to be presented in this essay, are the 
foundation. Revealed religion is to natural reigion, what Algebra 
is to Arithmetic — what the foundation is to the superstructure, or the 
tree to its roots. The latter unfolds the moral nature of man, and 
with it, the moral constitution of the universe ; the former, builds on 
it the system, doctrines, and conditions of salvation. Now the true 
policy of Christians should be to give to natural theology all the im- 
portance that really belongs to it, and to claim no more for Revelation 
than it claims for itself. It nowhere claims to be the whole of reli- 
gion. The Bible itself maintains that the nature of man teaches 
him natural religion. Thus : " Because that which may be known 
of God, is manifest in them." "For the invisible things of him from 
the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the 
things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead ; so that 
they are without excuse." " For as many as have sinned without law, 
shall also perish without law : and as many as have sinned in the 
law, shall be judged by the law." " For when the Gentiles, which 
have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these 
having not the law, are a law unto themselves." " Which shew the 
work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing 
witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing, or else excusing 
one another." " And shall not uncircumcision which is by nature, 
if it fulfil the law, judge thee, who by the letter and circumcision dost 
transgress the law?" Rom. c. i. & ii. And before the great truths of 
Revelation can be fully enforced, or even understood, those of natural 
religion must be studied. And this is the great error of the Christian 
world. They make the Bible the Alpha and the Omega, the all and 
all of religion, and thrust its handmaid and twin sister, natural the- 
ology, away into the back ground, clear down out of sight and hear- 
ing, and they pay the forfeit of this unholy temerity in those sectarian 
dogmas which now disgrace the name and profession of Christianity. 
Take natural theology along as an interpreter of Revelation, and this 
religious zeal without knowledge, this superstitious bigotry and nar- 



22 religion: natural and revealed. 176 

row-mindedness, and these lame and distorted religious opinions and 
practices, which now dishonor the Christian name, and degrade man, 
and exist every where in such rich abundance, would be swept from 
religion, and be supplanted by moral purity and correct conduct. 
Millions on millions of works on didactic and sectarian theology, are 
pouring forth bigotry and sectarianism from the teeming press in 
every civilized and in many pagan lands, while only here and there 
one on natural theology is published or read. Paley's " Evidences ' 
and "Natural Theology," Butler's "Analogy." Good's "Book of 
Nature," and the " Bridgewater Treatise," (each of which, if based on 
Phrenology, the natural basis of all works on natural theology, would 
be infinitely more valuable,) with Alcott's " The house I live in," con- 
stitute nearly or quite all the valuable works on natural theology ex- 
tant, and yet their circulation is insignificant compared with that of 
some party religico-politico works on some creed or doctrinal point. 
Witness the sale of works on the Puseyite controversy. No works 
ever sold with equal rapidity in New-York. And yet, every man of 
understanding, ought to be ashamed to give a moment's attention to 
the points in discussion. 

Not that I would underrate the importance of the study of the Bible. 
But I would exalt the study of natural religion. I would see God, 
study God, in clouds, in winds, in storms, in calms, in sunshine, in 
darkness, in vegetation, in mineralization, in every rill, in every flow- 
er, in every tree, and bird, and beast, and thing that lives or is ; and, 
above all, in man, anatomically, physiologically, and phrenologically. 
I would make natural theology the basis of all theology, and natural 
religion, the basis of all religion. I would teach natural religion to 
children, along with all that is taught them, and before the doctrines 
and precepts of the Bible are taught ; and for the same reason that I 
would teach arithmetic before astronomy. I would teach them to 

" Look through Nature up to Nature's God.'» 

And, afterwards, would teach them the plan of Redemption brought to 
light in the gospel. They cannot understand, they cannot appreci- 
ate, the latter till they have studied the former. And, what is quite as 
important, the human mind requires somewhat more of proof than it 
finds in the Bible. The Bible gives us its ipse dixit simply ; but the 
human mind requires evidence — requires to understand the why, and 
the wherefore, and the philosophy, of that which it receives. That 
philosophy, the Bible does not give ; does not even pretend to give. 
It requires belief on the ground of a " Thus saith the Lord," and 



177 IMTORTANCE OF NATURAL RELIGION. 23 

there leaves it. As man is endowed with reason, it is proper, it is 
imperative, that his reason he satisfied. He will reason. He should 
reaeon And natural religion will give him his fill of reason. It is 
all reason, and reason the most clear, the most comprehensive, the 
most satisfactory. Reason, which, while it exalts and fills the in- 
tellect, also feasts the soul with the most suhlime ideas of God it can 
possibly receive or contain. And, think you, that infidelity, and irre- 
ligion, and impiety, and profanity, would stalk abroad thus unblush- 
ingly, if natural religion were taught more, and taught to children? 
No, never. The ideas of God thus inculcated, would be too sacred to 
allow them ever to take his name in vain, or wantonly to break his 
Jaws. After the human mind has studied the book of nature, it is 
prepared to turn to the pages of the Scriptures. And to attempt to 
teach Bible religion before natural religion is taught, is to plant with- 
out preparing the ground — to build before laying the foundation — to 
run before you can stand — or to be a man before you are a child. Nor 
can any thing else account for the growing impiety of the age ; and 
that, too, in the very teeth of those mighty religious efforts now put 
forth, dc fide propaganda. We have religious teaching enough, but 
it is not of the right kind. Enough of Sabbath schools, and Bible 
classes, and preaching, and revivals, but not of the right character. 
We require more philosophy, in which to base it, and with which to 
enforce it. Phrenology shows, that all the other faculties must be 
guided and governed by enlightened intellect. That all impressions 
made upon mankind, to be either permanent or useful, must be made 
through reason. Nor will the greatest stickler for Revelation, be dis- 
posed to question the great point I now urge — the necessity of em- 
ploying reason to enforce religion. Still less will he maintain that 
the Bible proves, or even attempts to prove, even the fundamentals of 
religion, much less its details. So that he is compelled either to take 
natural religion along with his Bible, or else to take his religion along 
without his intellect. 

And, surely, no field within the range of human inquiry is as rich 
in pure philosophy, as religion. None more deep or conclusive in its 
fundamental principles ; more vast or variegated in the pure, unadul- 
terated truth brought to light. In other words : The moral nature of 
man has its laws equally with every other department of nature. Its 
roots strike deep into the constitution of the human mind. Its branches 
overshadow no slight portion of that nature. Its fruit is the sweetest 
and the richest borne by that nature. So is its philosophy. So is its 
morality. Nor was this tree of the moral nature of man ever design- 



24 religion: natural and revealed. 178 

ed to bear the thousands of different and conflicting kinds of fruit it 
now bears. Some, bitter ; some, sour ; some, rotten ; some, green ; 
some, hollow ; some, bloated ; some, shrivelled ; some, rank poison. 
Little healthy. Most of it injurious. All of it defective. And none 
of it fully adapted to the nature of man. But each sect, and most in- 
dividuals, have cut off the original branch or twig, on which they 
each hang their souls, and engrafted thereon a wild scion, whittled out 
by their own defective or depraved religious organization, and hang 
on it, fight for it, die on it — sucking to the last the poisonous fruit it 
bears, and rotting in every limb, every joint, with the moral disease 
derived therefrom. Such is not the order of nature. That order is, 
that the tree of natural religion, planted by the God of heaven, earth, 
and man in the soil of the human heart, is all that it ought to be. All 
that it can be. All that it can ever be made. Bearing fruit inconceiva- 
ble in abundance. The richest possible in flavor. The most nour- 
ishing possible to the nature of man. All that is desired. All that can 
be required. Filling the soul to its utmost capacity with an exstacy of 
joy which the world can neither give nor take away. The original 
constitution of man is right. It is all that even God could make it. 
Every primary faculty is all that it ought to be : and, the whole com- 
bined, surpass in excellence all the rest of creation. Man is the last, 
the greatest work of God. Man's moral nature, is the last, the great- 
est, part of man. Last to be developed. Last to die on earth ; and the 
heart, the centre, of his immortality. Nor can the study of any de- 
partment of nature, eqUal, in either importance or beauty, the study 
of that nature. Beauty inimitable, characterizes every joint ; every 
muscle ; every physical organ ; every propensity ; every element of 
Man. But thou, oh ! thou moral nature of man, " excellest them all." 
They, the tree ; thou, the fruit. They, the subjects ; thou, the queen. 
Perfect in every feature. Immaculate in every part. And thy face 
reflecting the image of thy God. If we may not see God and live, 
yet we may see thee, his prototype, in whom dwelleth all the perfec- 
tions of the Divinity, as far as man may see them. 

Metaphor aside. Whatever man can know of God, of himself, of 
any thing, he must know through his faculties. No one will for a 
moment deny, that man was created perfect in every conceivable re- 
spect. To suppose otherwise, is not Bible ; is not nature ; is not truth. 
No one supposes that his alleged fall took away any original moral 
element, or added any new element or faculty of depravity. This 
fall could only have perverted his nature. It could not possibly either 
add or destroy one jot or tittle of nature. It took away no limb, no 



179 THE PRIMITIVE CONSTITUTION OF MAN'S NATURE. 25 

muscle, no physical organ. It added no phrenological or other men- 
tal or moral faculty or power. As far as his original constitution 
was concerned, it left him just where it found him. It simply per- 
verted his nature, hut did not, could not, change its original ingredi- 
ents. They are what they were in the beginning. And Phrenology 
tells us precisely what they are by constitution. It puts the finger of 
science on every element of our nature — animal, intellectual, moral. 
It gives us both the warp and the woof of that nature. Every item 
of it separately. All of it collectively. This, none will deny who 
admit, what this work presupposes to be admitted, namely, that Phre- 
nology is true. Hence, in telling us precisely in what the moral na- 
ture of man consists, it reveals all the doctrines, all the practices, that 
grow on that nature. That are adapted to that nature. That that nature 
teaches or requires. Dispute this, and you charge God foolishly, and 
show your own incapacity and bigotry. Allow it, and you allow that 
that nature fully known, gives us a knowledge of every moral duty, 
doctrine, requirement. That obeyed, we should obey every moral 
duty. That perfect, in development and in action, we should be per- 
fect in doctrine, in practice, in every thing. 

"What," says' an objector, "but this throws the whole plan of sal- 
vation overboard." Then overboard it must go. " It does away with 
the Bible. It does away with the Savior. It abrogates the Sabbath. 
It sweeps the board of revealed religion, lengthwise, breadthwise, all 
wise." Then, must the Bible be done away. So must the Savior. 
So must all connected therewith. But, this is not my logic. It is 
yours. I argue thus : — The fall was subsequent to the nature of man. 
So was the plan of salvation by Christ. So the whole paraphranalia 
of accompanying doctrines — all the doctrines connected with that sal- 
vation, or growing out of it. They are extraneous to the nature of 
man. They are added to it as far as they are connected with it. This 
is clearly the doctrine of the Bible. Nothing can be more plain or 
unequivocal than its assertion that man was made perfect at first. He 
was created perfect. His original constitution was perfection itself. 
That constitution, Phrenology unfolds. It reveals it all — every shade, 
Every phase. Every line. Every item. It teaches every doctrine 
man needs to know- Every duty he is required to perform. Of 
course, this remark excepts every doctrine and duty connected with 
the fall And if man will but fulfil all the precepts, and obey all the 
requirements of his original nature — of Phrenology — the fall, and all 
its effects, will pass him by. He will need no Savior, for he will com- 



26 THE FOUNDATION OF MAN'S MORAL NATURE. 180 

mit no sin. And, by consequence, the nearer he lives up to that na- 
ture, the less sinful, and the more holy and happy, will he he. 

Intelligent reader ! if these truths run athwart any of thy precon- 
ceived religious views, take the matter coolly. Go over the ground 
again. Scrutinize the bases of these inferences. Scrutinize the infer- 
ences themselves. Give reason her perfect work. Fear not for the 
Bible. Fear not for Christianity. Care only for truth. There is no 
danger that truth will ever overthrow either Christianity or the Bible. 
If they conflict with it, let them go. If they will stand the test of 
science, all well. If not, surely you cannot wish to build your eter- 
nal all on a sandy foundation. Prove all things. And remember, 
that the moment you cast overboard the chart of intellect, and the 
compass of reason, you are left completely at the mercy of the watery, 
windy elements of mere religious feeling — are carried back at once 
to paganism — to idolatry. The very fact, that the reasoning organs 
are located by the side of the moral, is proof positive that the two were 
designed to act together. Indeed, he who will not reason on religion, 
cannot and should not know or enjoy religion. Why reason with a 
man who says in the start, that he will not reason ? It cannot be sup- 
posed, that any sensible person will be afraid to investigate the philo- 
sophy of religion, or throw away the unequivocal deductions of reason, 
in order to cling to preconceived, but erroneous, doctrines. Who- 
ever does, let them. They are the sinners ; they the sufferers. 

Let not the preceding be construed into a denial of the fall of man, 
the need of a Savior, and the doctrines consequent thereon. I am per- 
suaded, that the reader will find them confirmed by natural religion, as 
pointed out by Phrenology, and analyzed in these pages. At all events, 
we waive these points for the present. They will be discussed here- 
after. Our object now is simply to state the fundamental truths of na- 
tural religion, not to array them for or against the doctrines of the Bi- 
ble. Nor do we wish to place them above the Bible, but only to as- 
sign to each its true sphere and boundaries. We value the Bible. 
We value natural religion. " These things ought ye to have done, 
but not to have left the other undone." We require both. Neither, 
without the other. Both, with the other. " United, we stand ; divid- 
ed, we fall." 

In view of these premises, what can be more interesting, what 
more important, than the study of man's moral nature and relations 1 
Standing, as they do, (in connexion with reason,) at the very head of 
nature, the subject matter of no study can equal that of their study. 
The interest, the value, the importance, of any study, is proportionate 



181 ArPEAL TO THE CANDID. 27 

to the elevation, in the range of ereation, of the subjeet of that study. 
Thus : 'to study vegetation, its qualities, laws, and conditions, together 
with the means of improving it, is deeply interesting and highly im- 
portant, hecause this study is calculated to promote human happiness, 
both in the intrinsic interest of the study itself, and also in the applica- 
tion of the truths revealed thereby to the promotion of vegetation. 
So, the study of mineralogy, geology, geography, astronomy, mathe- 
matics, &c, are interesting in themselves, and the truths they teach 
are highly beneficial in their application to the promotion of general 
happiness. So, the study of chemistry, is both deeply interesting, 
and capable of being applied perhaps as extensively as any of the 
above-named sciences, to the promotion of human happiness. So, the 
study of natural history — of birds, animals, and whatever lives and 
moves — is still more interesting and important ; because living matter 
is employed for a higher purpose, and has expended upon its construc- 
tion and laws a greater amount of Divine wisdom and goodness, than 
is shared by inanimate matter. These laws, also, are quite analogous 
to those that govern man ; so that the study of living things, teaches 
us many a useful lesson as to the laws that govern our own nature 
and open into a field so near home that we can gather from it many a 
rich scientific boquet of beautiful flowers ; many a golden apple of 
truth to gratify our taste, and to impart health and strength to us as 
we pass on through life. So, also, the study of man physically — of 
the wonderful mechanical arrangements of bones, muscles, joints, 
tendons, &c. — of the heart, lungs, stomach, eyes, head, brain, &c. — is 
still more interesting and important ; first, because its subject matter, 
(man), is more important than the subject matter of any of the other 
studies ; and, secondly, because it opens up richer mines of truth, the 
application ot which is every way calculated to augment human hap- 
piness, more than any of the olher studies yet named. 

But, it is the study of man's immortal mind — of his elements of 
feeling and intellect — which constitutes the climax of all studies, both 
as to the intrinsic interest connected with its subject matter, and as to 
the great and glorious truths revealed thereby. The study of appetite— 
of food, nutrition, the effects of different kinds of food, and times of 
taking it, and their respective influences on intellect and feeling, as 
well as of the best way of so nourishing the body as to prepare it in 
the best possible manner for experiencing enjoyment, and promoting the 
pleasurable action of mind — of the acquiring propensity, the objects 
on which it should be expended, the conditions of right and wrong as 
to property, bargains, dues, &c, and this whole subject of acquisition, 



28 man's moral nature and relations. 182 

— of man's social, connubial, parental, filial, and political relations, 
and all that class of duties and relations consequent thereon ; as well 
as of resistance, fear, character, praise-worthiness, and shame, and 
every thing connected with the commendable and disgraceful, — rise 
still higher in the scale of interest and value, both as a study and as 
to the sublime philosophical truths elicited thereby. Still more im- 
portant, still more useful, is the study of intellect, of reason, of mental 
philosophy. 

But, since the moral nature and relations of man stand at the head of 
man's nature, its equal and twin sister, reason alone, always excepted, 
it follows, that the proper study of man's moral nature and relation — of 
religion, theology, duty, religious doctrines, precepts, and practices — 
stands at the head of all other subjects of study, both as to subject mat- 
ter, and as to the 'practical utility of such studies. From this study 
alone it is, that we can learn the most sublime philosophical truths, 
and those the most practical which it is possible for God to teach, or 
man to know. Though this study is not the substitute of all other 
knowledge, yet it is the crowning excellence of every other. The 
grand focus to which all others tend. The great mirror of nature, 
which reflects not alone all that is beautiful and perfect in nature, but 
even God himself, in all his beauty ; in all his glory ! If man but 
understand and obey the laws and requisitions of his moral nature, 
and those only, he will be more virtuous and happy than if he under- 
stand and obey those of any other single department of his nature. 
But, if he violate these, he will be rendered more sinful and miserable 
than he could by violating any other. To know them, is the very 
perfection of knowledge. To obey them, the climax of virtue. To 
violate them, the quintescence of vice. 

Will ye, then, Christians, infidels, and neutrals, one and all, give a 
listening ear, a reasoning mind, and unbiased feelings, to the sublime 
moral truth and precepts unfolded by Phrenology, and then to a com- 
parison of them with those of Revelation. And ye who are prejudic- 
ed, " strike, but hear." I shall doubtless cross the track of many, and 
offend nearly all; but wait, and "think on these things" one whole 
year, pondering, point by point, and then " receive the good into ves- 
sels, but cast the bad away." Few agree in matters of religious faith 
and practice ; therefore most are necessarily in error. Yet all think 
they are right, and are positive that all who differ from them, are 
wrong. Who, then, will take it upon himself to assert that he alone 
is right, and that all the world besides is wrong? What candid mind 



182 THE FOUNDATION OF MAN'S MORAL NATURE. 29 

bnt will rather say : I may also be in error, and will examine care- 
fully, and judge impartially. 

Taking Phrenology for our religious chart and compass, then, let us 
set sail on our moral exploring expedition, and see to what religious ha- 
ven it may conduct us — whether into the angry waters of sectarian 
contention and recrimination, or into the peaceful and delightful haven 
of truth, and the promised land, fruitful in happiness, and abounding 
in every virtue. 

SECTION II. 

THE FOUNDATION OF MAN'S MORAL AND RELIGIOUS NATURE. 

As already seen, man is created with a moral nature. He has a 
moral constitution. He cannot, therefore, be otherwise than moral 
and religious. As well live without air, or food, or life, as live with- 
out moral sentiments of some kind, and religious practices of some sort ; 
because they are just as much a part of his constitution as reason, or 
appetite, or affection, or breathing. Nor can he live without them 
any more than without a stomach or a brain. This fact is set com- 
pletely at rest by Phrenology. This science shows, that his moral 
feelings, his religious susceptibilities, are not creatures of education ; 
are not temporary and liable to fluctuation ; but that they constitute a 
very considerable part and parcel of his original nature. It shows 
that a large section of the brain is set apart exclusively for the exer- 
cise of the moral and religious feelings. And this shows, that he has 
corresponding moral and religious faculties, or 'primary elements of 
mind) the spontaneous action of which both constitutes and renders 
him a moral and religious being. 

If this question be pushed back another step. If it be asked, what 
is, the foundation of man's moral nature? In what is it based 1 What 
relation do these moral faculties hold to the nature of things ? In 
what do these moral elements consist % What lies at the entire bottom 
of that nature 1 In what does this religious nature originate ? And 
what are its relations to the nature of things 1 What is its rationale ? 
I answer : The same, precisely, that causality holds to the laws and 
causes of things. The same that the construction and constitution of 
the eye does to light and the principles of vision. The same that 
Amativeness does to the existence of the sexes and the propagation of 
the race. The same that Parental love does to the infantile state. 
The same that any, every phrenological organ and faculty do to their 



30 THE PRIMITIVE CONSTITUTION OP Man's NATURE. 184 

counterpart, or to that to which they are adapted. Thus : An origi- 
nal arrangement in the nature of man, requires that he partake of 
food. Hence, adapted to this constitutional arrangement and requisi- 
tion for food, he is created with the faculty and organ of Alimentive- 
ness or appetite. 

On this eating basis of man's nature, grow all those laws, conditions, 
requirements, pleasures, pains, &c, connected with eating, or de- 
pendent thereon, or affected thereby. Is it difficult, in this view of 
the subject, to see what is the foundation, the rationale of appetite ? 
It is so, that man requires to lay up for future use a supply of food, 
clothing, and various necessaries of life. Hence the existence of the 
faculty of acquisitiveness, and of its organ and relations. Nor will 
any one dispute the self-evident inference, that all the functions, laws, 
benefits, evils — all that can be said, all that there is, all that there 
can be, touching appetite, touching property, is based in, grows out 
of, this primitive, constitutional adaptation of the nature of man to 
eating, or to acquiring. It being the nature of man to eat, there are 
certain conditions of eating ; some beneficial, others injurious ; some 
in harmony with its constitutional relations, and others in opposition 
thereto. And that out of these constitutional relations, grow all that 
is,good and bad, virtuous and vicious, right and wrong, of eating. So 
of acquiring. So, also, it is so, that individual things exist, and that 
it becomes necessary for man to take cognizance of these things. 
To enable him to do this, he is endowed with the faculty and organ of 
individuality, the constitutional tendency of which is action ; and this 
action brings to his notice those things which it is necessary for him to 
observe. And every thing connected with these things, or dependent 
thereon, has its foundation and counterpart in this constitutional 
existence and function of individuality. In these relations, consist the 
rationale of this faculty, and of all connected therewith. It is so, 
that man enters the world in a condition so utterly helpless, that help 
of some kind, assistance from some quarter, must be had. Otherwise 
all children must die, and our race soon become extinct. Hence the 
rationale, the fundamental basis, of philoprogenitiveness. Nor will 
it be disputed for a moment, that all the relations of parents as pa- 
rents, to their children aschildren, grow out of this constitutional ex- 
istence, function, and adaptation of this faculty to its counterpart. 
And all that we have to do for our children, or to them, or with them, 
is simply to do what the constitutional function of this faculty, pro- 
perly developed and enlightened, would do, or requires should be done. 
So the element of beauty exists. Some things are beautiful ; oth- 



185 THE PRIMITIVE CONSTITUTION OF MAN'S MORAL NATURE. 31 

ers are the opposite. And if it be asked, what is the nature of beau- 
ty — what is its rationale 1 the answer is ready — is perfectly simple. 
It is this. It is so constituted, so it is, that the condition or quality 
of beauty appertains necessarily to things. Adapted to this exist- 
ence of beauty, man is created with the faculty of ideality, the pri- 
mitive function of which is to appreciate and admire this element of 
nature. And all is so arranged, that this faculty acts spontaneously 
in the perception and admiration of this beauty, whenever it is pre- 
sented, and wherever it can be found. And what is more — what is 
most — all that can be known or conceived of beauty, is what this 
faculty teaches. Fully to understand the whole nature of this facul- 
ty, is to know all that can be known, all that is, of this beauty. And 
this knowledge would give us a perfectly full and correct estimate of 
all the conditions, all the qualities, all the degrees, all of every thing 
connected with beauty. We need to know nothing more, we can 
know nothing more, of beauty, than that constitutional nature of it 
which this faculty unfolds. I am aware that this is deep. But I 
trust it is also plain. It goes down to the last round of the ladder 
of things. There is but one thing below it — that on which this lad- 
der rests, to which we shall come presently. 

Similar illustrations of the foundation, the basis, the constitutional- 
ity, the rationale of things, might be drawn from each of the other 
faculties. But the principle aimed at, the thought presented, is now 
clear; sufficiently so at least to enable us to descry the bottom, 
the fundamental principle, of man's moral nature. That applica- 
tion is this. It so is, that man suffers and enjoys. And it also so 
is, that mankind can both promote the enjoyment, and enhance the 
sufferings, of mankind. Hence the existence of benevolence. Its 
adaptation, its rationale is, to promote human happiness, and pre- 
vent human suffering. This is its foundation, its beginning, its end, 
its constitutionality, its all and all. And every thing there is 
about benevolence — every thing appertaining to the way in which it 
should be exercised, to what are, and what are not, fit objects of its ex- 
ercise, to its degrees, its kinds ; to punishment, here or hereafter — 
every thing connected with this element, depends upon the primary 
function, the constitutional arrangement of this faculty. When we 
know fully the rationale of this faculty, in all its ramifications and 
modifications, we shall know all that can be known, all that is, 
concerning this faculty; its duties, its requirements, its rights, its 
wrongs, and every thing any way related to this whole class of 
man's nature or relations. In other words, the complete phrenologi- 






32 THE FUNDAMENTAL BASIS OF MAN'S MORAL NATURE. 186 

cal analysis of this faculty will tell us all that is, all that can be, 
concerning this entire department of the nature of man, and all its 
dependencies. 

So of veneration. It so is, that man ' worships, just as it so is, 
that he eats and sleeps. He worships a Supreme Being. He is so 
constituted. He cannot do otherwise, any more than he can do oth- 
erwise than eat, or sleep, or die. And when we know all that 
Phrenology can tell us concerning this faculty, we shall know all 
that is (at least all that is to us,) concerning the worship of a 
God. All that can be known of times, places, and modes of this wor- 
ship. All that can be known, all that is, concerning its frequency, 
its character, and its effects. All that it is possible for man to know 
concerning the existence, character, attributes, works, and govern- 
ment of this Being. In short, man's whole duty touching this en- 
tire department of his nature. So of conscientiousness. This facul- 
ty exists. Its rationale, its fundamental principle, is exactly on a 
footing with that of appetite, and acquisition, and parental love, and 
the beautiful, &c, as already seen. That foundation is, the consti- 
tutional arrangement of right and wrong, of holiness and sin, per se. 
And when we know all that Phrenology can teach us of this faculty 
— of the conditions of its action, of its combination in action, of its dic- 
tates, its requirements, and its nature, — we shall know all that man 
can know as to what is right and wrong, good and bad, sinful and 
holy. All that can be known of duty, of penitence, of pardon, of re- 
wards, of punishments,* natural and artificial, and of every thing, 
little and great, connected with this whole department of the nature 
of men. Similar remarks will apply to hope and a future state. To 
marvellousness, and a world of spirits, spiritual monitions, impres- 
sions, existences, &c. But, as to present a few of these relations of 
the faculties to their counterpart, is to constitute the main body of 
the work, they will not be enlarged upon here. Thus much has 
been given, because it was deemed necessary to explore the founda- 
tion of morals and religion, before we began to examine the super- 
structure. Nor have I ever before seen a successful attempt to go 
back to the beginning of the moral and religious nature of man, and 

* Benevolence was also said to teach us all about punishment. Let me ex 
plain. I do not mean that the function or knowledge of either of these organs 
singly, without reference to their combinations and other relations, will do this. 
I mean that all which canbe known of benevolence in combination with conscien- 
tiousness, and all the other organs, and every thing else bearing on it, will do 
this. So of conscientiousnes. So of all the other faculties. 



187 MAN CONSTITUTIONALLY MORAL AND RELIGIOUS. 33 

the reader is earnestly solicited to become thoroughly master of this 
point before he proceeds. Re-perusal and mature reflection, it will 
certainly require. But give them. Tl.e subject itself will repay you. 
So will the great truth unfolded. So will subsequent pages. 

It was promised above, to go still one step lower down into the bot- 
tom of the subject — to the very bottom of its bottom. And that bot- 
tom of the bottom, is the happiness enjoyed in the right exercise of 
these moral faculties. What is the reason of the existence of any 
and every faculty of man ? What the cause of this cause ? The 
sub-stratum of all ? It is to render man happy in the exercise of 
each. Thus, as philoprogenitiveness is based in the infantile condi- 
tion of man, this infantile condition is based in the happiness of both 
children and parent. As appetite is based in that arrangement of 
man's nature which requires food, this arrangement itself is based in 
the happiness of man. As ideality is based in the constitutional ex- 
istence of the beautiful, this existence is based in the happiness its 
exercise confers on man. So of each of the moral faculties. The 
reason of the rationale of benevolence, is, that its exercise is condu- 
cive to the best interests of man. But as this has been fully shown 
in the first chapter of the author's work on Education, it need only 
be stated here, not exemplified. 

And now, reader, being at the bottom of this whole subject, let 
us commence our ascent, that we may examine, step by step, 
piece by piece, individually and collectively, all the constituent 
vessels and portions of this wonderful temple of the moral and re- 
ligious nature and constitution of man. 

SECTION III. 

THE LOCATION OF THE MORAL ORGANS, AND GENERAL REFLECTIONS 
ON THEIR FACULTIES. 

As already implied, though not yet presented with sufficient 
clearness and force, Phrenology renders the great truth demon- 
strative and certain, that man is both a moral and a religious being, 
and that by creation, by original constitution. It shows that this 
religious tendency before mentioned, is not wholly the creature of 
education, or habit, but of the spontaneous action of his primary 
elements. The demonstration of this point is all important. It should 
not be left at loose ends. Nor is it. No one who admits the 
truth of Phrenology, can for a moment deny the therefore, that 



34 MAN CONSTITUTIONALLY MORAL AND RELIGIOUS. 18S 

man is constitutionally moral and religious — so by creation, not 
merely by education or habit. This truth is inseparable from this 
science. It is not necessary — it is too plain, too self-evident to re- 
quire any thing more than the mere statement — that the admission 
of the truth of this science, necessarily brings along wiih it an ad- 
mission that man has moral organs and faculties, and is therefore 
a moral and a religious being. The existence of this moral na- 
ture of man, constitutes a part and parcel of Phrenology. Since, 
therefore, this work proceeds upon the supposition that this science 
is true, and since the admission of the truth of this science implies 
and accompanies the admission of the moral organs and faculties, 
the very existence merely of which both constitutes and proves man 
a moral being, it is no more necessary to argue this point than, the 
truth of arithmetic being admitted, it is necessary to prove by ar- 
gument that two and three make five ; or the existence of the eyes 
being admitted, it is necessary to prove that man is a seeing being ; 
or the existence of the reasoning faculty in man being admitted, it is 
necessary to support, by facts and arguments, the fact already and by 
supposition admitted. 

Another preliminary remark. Religion being constitutional, it 
must have its laws, and be governed by its first principles. 
There are three important phrenological principles that bear on 
this point, which require elucidation here. The first is, the physical 
position of the moral organs ; the second, their size ; and the third, 
their function, relatively, as to the animal propensities and intellect. 

First. The fact is worthy of remark, merely as a fact — as a 
beautiful illustration of the adaptation of the location of organs to 
their function — as well as teaching us an important lesson touching 
their function, that the moral organs occupy the whole of the top of 
the head. This denotes the elevation of their function. No one will 
fail to observe, that organs are higher and higher in the body, the 
more important and elevated their function. Thus the feet are the 
menials of the body, and accordingly, are placed at the bottom of all, 
because they are the servant of all, and because they can discharge 
their appropriate function there better than if placed any where else. 
So, the organs of the abdomen are still more serviceable, still more 
essential to life, and productive of a still higher order and more ex- 
alted quality of happiness, than the feet. But they perform a func- 
tion less essential to life, and less exalted, than the stomach, lungs, 
and heart, situated higher up, and as high up as they can well be, 
and yet be contained within the body. But the head is the highest 



189 religion: natural and revealed. 35 

of all, and its function — the function of mind, of feeling, intellect, 
reason — is the highest function of the nature of man, as well as the 
most pleasurable or painful. And then, too, different sections of the 
brain, perform functions still more elevated,* still more pleasurable, 
if pleasurable at all, still more painful, if painful, in proportion as 
they are located higher and still higher up in the head. Thus, 
suppose a woman to be endowed with as much of affection, relatively, 
as Webster is of intellect. Though we should honor her, yet this 
quality could not command as high a meed of praise, or be as exten- 
sively useful to mankind, as the talents of a Webster, if properly di- 
rected, are capable of becoming. So, let two men be each equally 
remarkable, the one for high-toned moral feeling and conduct, the 
other, for libertinism, or gluttony, or any animal propensity, and we 
honor the moral man more than the sensualist. It is the constitution 
of man so to do. It is not possible for a well-organized mind to do 
otherwise. A similar comparison of any of the upper faculties and 
organs with any of the lower, will be productive of the same results. 
This point has been fully presented in the Phrenological Journal, 
Vol. vi. No. 1, Art. II., and requires only to be stated, certainly not 
to be argued. 

This truth once admitted, and the relative importance of the moral 
faculties rises to the superlative degree, and assumes the front rank 
in the nature of man, having by their side, and on a par with them- 
selves, the reasoning intellect, but eclipsing every other element in 
the nature of man. They become the natural governors of man. 
They exercise the very highest functions of his nature — the throne 
of the kingdom of man. They ally man to his Maker, giving him 
the same kind of excellence as that possessed by the great Giver of 
every good and perfect gift, and differing from him in this respect 
only in degree of function, and, therefore, of glory. So, also, their 
exercise renders him incomparably more happy than the proportion- 
ate exercise of any animal pleasure. Who does not feel more exalt- 
ed pleasure in the doing, as well as from having done, a benevolent 
act, than in eating, or in having eaten a hearty meal ? Who does 

* If I am asked what it is that constitutes one function more elevated than 
another, I answer, the amount of happiness produced thereby. And this amount 
is governed by two conditions ; the one, the quantify of function ; the other, its 
quality, or the purity, and the sioeetness of the pleasure afforded. Thus ; let a 
man exercise an equal degree of appetite and of conscience, and he will be ren- 
dered more happy by the latter than by the former, besides also feeling that the 
quality of the pleasure afforded by the latter is more exquisite, more rich, more 
desirable every way, than that of the former. 



36 man's moral nature and relations. 190 

not feel a higher order of pleasure, as well as a greater degree of it, 
in the exercise of justice, and from the reflection of having done 
right, than in the mere acquisition of property, or in the exercise of 
anger, or cunning, or from having exercised them ? Need this point 
be further enforced ? Does not every well-constituted mind yield a 
cordial assent to it ? Is it not self-evident ? A moral axiom, even ? 
Not the offspring of habit, but of constitution ? Not taught, but felt, 
inherent, an original arrangement of our nature ? 

This harmonizes beautifully with the fact that the moral organs 
occupy a large amount of brain. It is a law of Phrenology, and, in- 
deed also, of Physiology, that the greater the amount of brain brought 
into action, the greater the pleasure or pain caused by that action. 
Thus ; not only does a large organ yield more pleasure, when its 
action is pleasurable, than a small one, and more pain, when that 
action is painful — large benevolence, more than small benevolence ; 
large friendship, than small friendship ; large ideality, than small 
ideality ; large reasoning organs, than small reasoning organs, &c. 
— but, some organs are larger, when large or very large, than oth- 
ers when equally developed. Thus ; the amount of brain occupied 
by, and the periphera of scull above, benevolence, or conscientious- 
ness, or marvellousness, or any moral organ, are much greater than 
those of size, or weight, or order ; though not greater than those oc- 
cupied by many of the propensities. 

But this is not all, nor even the most important phreno-philosophi- 
cal fact bearing on this point. There is something in the very con- 
stitution of the moral faculties, which places them at the head of the 
propensities ; at the helm of man, reason alone excepted ; or, rather, 
in conjunction with reason. It is so, that, to be productive of happi- 
ness, every animal propensity requires to be governed by the dictates 
of enlightened moral sentiment — that is, by the moral and intellectual 
faculties in conjunction. As this is one of the great laws of the mo- 
ral constitution of man — a perfect standard of virtue, and touch-stone 
of what is right and wrong in conduct and feeling, its full elucidation 
here is very desirable, tcrsay the least, if not absolutely indispensa- 
ble. It has been already presented at some length in the author's 
work on Education and Self-Improvement, p. 149, but, as many of 
the readers of these pages will not be able to refer to the passage 
mentioned, and as many who can refer to it will not be seriously 
injured by its re-perusal, but, especially, as much that we have to 
say in this work touching the nature of holiness and sin, virtue and 
vice, good and bad, right and wrong, happiness and misery — all but 



191 IMPORTANCE OF THE MORAL FACULTIES. 37 

different names for substantially one and the same thing — depend up- 
on it, a few quotations from the passage mentioned, will not only be 
pardoned, but are even required, and therefore given, in connexion 
however, with some important additions, improvements, and infer- 
ences : — 

" Without rendering obedience to this law, there is no virtue, no en- 
joyment in life ; but, this law obeyed, all is peace and happiness. A 
few illustrations will serve to explain both the law itself, and its im- 
portance. Let it still be borne in mind, that we live to be happy — 
that whatever augments our pleasures, both temporarily and ulti- 
mately, furthers the ends of our being, and that whatever causes pain, 
is wrong, and should be avoided. In short, we need only to be selfish 
— to promote our own greatest ultimate good. Our own happiness, 
then, and also that of our fellow-men, require that we govern our con- 
duct by the moral sentiments and intellect — that we never exercise the 
propensities but " by and with the consent," and under the direction, 
of the intellectual and moral faculties — that every exercise of the 
propensities not thus governed, results in misery, both to the indivi- 
dual, and also to all concerned. 

" Thus : the exercise of Appetite, by itself, indulged for the mere 
pleasures of the palate, and without the intellect to choose the kind 
and quality of our food, or the moral sentiments to restrain its sxces- 
sive action, will often eat unwholesome food, and in excessive quantities, 
which will derange the stomach, undermine the health, blunt the 
moral sensibilities, benumb the intellect, and sap the fountain-head of 
nearly all our physical as well as mental and moral pleasures, besides 
greatly abridge those very pleasures of the palate sought in its indul- 
gence. But, let it be exercised under the control of intellect — let the 
latter choose the best kind, and dictate the proper amount, of food, and 
let the moral sentiments restrain its excess, and the consequence will 
be, the greatest gustatory enjoyment that we are capable of experi- 
encing, as well as abundant sustenance to all the other physical facul- 
ties, and the greatest pleasures in the expenditure of this sustenance. 

" If Combativeness be exercised alone, without the sanctifying influ- 
ences of the moral sentiments, and in opposition to the dictates of rea- 
son, it becomes mere brute force, mere bravado and physical fight, 
bursting forth on all occasions, quarrelling with every body, not only 
without cause, but in opposition to right, and making its possessor and 
all around him miserable. But, let this organ be exercised under the 
direction and control of the intellectual and moral faculties, and it be- 
comes moral courage, a defence of right and truth, and of the oppressed, 
and opposes whatever is wrong and pernicious in its tendency — than 
which no element of our nature yields its possessor a richer harvest of 
the most pure and exalted pleasure, in addition to the pleasure felt in 
exercising this feeling, and the beneficial ends obtained thereby. 

u Let a man exercise Acquisitiveness as the robber and knave exer- 
cise it, without intellect, to tell him that this course, in the long run, 
will prevent his becoming rich, and without the moral sentiments to 



38 THE LOCATION OP THE MORAL ORGANS. 192 

show how wrong and unjust this course, (that is, let him exercise this 
organ without intellect to point out the most successful course, or the 
moral sentiments to prevent his getting it by extortion and robbery, 
and other similar means, however unjust,) and this organ will make 
him wretched, and also all whom he wrongs by his dishonesty. Ill- 
gotten wealth injures all and benefits none. But let intellect guide a 
man so that he choose the best course to make money, and then let 
Conscientiousness cause him to make money honestly, and pay all he 
owes, and Benevolence prevent his distressing any one by his efforts 
to acquire property, and that man will enjoy his money, and enjoy 
life, infinitely more than will he whose Acquisitiveness is not thus 
governed. The merchants in a town in which I once resided, held 
their goods at so enormous a price, that they drove all the valuable 
custom to a neighboring town, where the merchants had moral feel- 
ing enough to ask only a fair, living profit, and intellect enough to 
see that " a nimble sixpence is better than a slow shilling." The for- 
mer merchants failed, and thus defeated their own object, but the lat- 
ter are very prosperous, and enjoy much more, (both in the possession 
of their wealth, and in the thought that they obtained it honestly) than 
the former class." 

Let a mother be ever so fond of her darling boy, but let her not 
guide and govern her maternal love by the dictates of the intellectual 
and the moral faculties combined, and she will not know how to keep 
her child healthy ; and therefore will suffer a world of anxiety on ac- 
count of his being sick, and still more if he should die. She will not 
know how to operate on his intellect or moral feelings, and thus una- 
ble to govern him, will be rendered miserable for life on account of 
his mischievous, wicked propensities and conduct. Or, she will spoil 
her child by over-indulgence — an occurrence as lamentable as it is 
common — and thereby cause unutterable anguish to mother, child, 
father, society, all in any way capable of being affected by the child 
or the man. But let intellect tell her what physical laws she must 
obey, to keep her child always well, and all the suffering of mother, 
of boy, of all concerned, on account of sickness or premature death, 
can be avoided, and, in their stead, the perfect health, the sprightli- 
ness, happiness, beauty, and growing maturity of the boy, will fill the 
boy himself, will swell the bosom of the mother, with joy unspeakable, 
and be always increasing ; thus enabling the boy himself to become a 
boon, a blessing, to his fellow men. And the more so, if the mother's 
intellect enables her to cultivate and develope the boy's intellect in the 
best possible manner, and pour a continual stream of useful know- 
ledge, and sage maxims, into his young mind, both to guide his con- 
duct, to call out and develope all the powers of his mind, and to start 
the object of her deep-rooted, but well guided, maternal affection into 



193 SUPREMACY OF THE MORAL AND INTELLECTUAL FACULTIES. 39 

the paths of wisdom, and learning, and influence, till, standing on a 
commanding intellectual eminence, he controls the opinions, and 
moulds the characters, of thousands of his fellow men ; he himself en- 
joying all that mind can confer ; his mother being happy beyond de- 
scription in her son ; and society owing and paying a tribute of praise 
*br the happiness spread abroad by this well educated son of intellect. 
Still more will these results be heightened, if the mother add high- 
toned moral feeling to this powerful and well directed intellectual edu- 
cation. Then will she educate him morally, as well as intellectually 
and physically. She will train him up in the way he should go. 
She will imbue him early and thoroughly with the principles of vir- 
tue and morality. She will elevate all his aims. Will chasten all 
his feelings. Will write as with the point of a diamond, upon the tablet 
of his yet plastic and susceptible mind, and in living, burning characters, 
never to be erased : " My son, walk thou in the paths of virtue. Turn 
thou away from every sinful indulgence," and he will obey her. Not 
only will his moral character be unblemished, and he live in accord- 
ance with the principle we are presenting, and therefore be happy him- 
self, but he will elevate all those talents already presupposed to the 
cause of humanity and virtue, and thus do an invaluable amount of 
good. All this rich harvest of happiness to him, to herself, -to mankind, 
will be the legitimate, the necessary harvest of the intellectual and moral 
seed sown by his mother. It will all flow naturally from the mother's 
following the law we are urging, of governing her philoprogenitiveness 
by the dictates of intellectual and moral feeling. And these fruits will 
be still farther sweetened and augmented, if the parents go still farther 
back, and so apply the laws of hereditary descent as to secure a good 
original, physical, moral, and intellectual foundation in their child, on 
which to erect this glorious superstructure. 

The importance of this principle can be measured only by the heaven- 
wide contrast between the effects, on the happiness of the parent, of the 
goodness and badness, of the health and sickness, the life and death, of 
the child. If but this law were observed, we should have no premature 
sickness or death, no ebullitions of passion, no waywardness, disobedi- 
ence, or immorality in children, to wring the hearts of parents with 
anguish unutterable, and to carry them down to their graves mourning. 
" Even if the parent love his child morally, and seek to make him 
better, but, unguided by intellect, actually makes him worse, a course 
very common, then his child is a torment to himself, his parents, and 
all concerned. We must love our children intellectually and morally, 
if we would either have them enjoy life, or we enjoy our children. 



40 THE LOCATION OF THE MORAL ORGANS. 194 

" If a man exercise his friendship, without the governing influ- 
ences of intellect and the sanctions of the moral sentiments, he will 
choose low and immoral associates, who will lower down the tone of 
his moral feelings, and lead him into the paths of sin, and thus make 
him unhappy. But, if he exercise his friendship under the sanction 
of the moral faculties and intellect — if he choose intellectual and 
moral companions, they will expand his intellect and strengthen his 
virtuous feelings, and this will make him and them the more happy. 
Friendship, founded on intellect and virtuous feeling, is far more ex- 
alted in its character, and beneficial in its influence, than when found- 
ed on any other considerations, while friendship founded on the pro- 
pensities, will increase the depravity and misery of all concerned. 

" Let Approbativeness, or love of the good opinion of others, be go- 
verned by the moral sentiments, and it becomes ambitious to excel in 
works of philanthropy, and seeks to keep the moral character pure 
and spotless ; and let it be guided by the intellect, and it becomes in- 
tellectual ambition, and seeks eminence in the walks of literature or 
the fields of science ; but when not thus governed, it degenerates into 
a low, animal, grovelling, sensual ambition, an ambition to become the 
greatest eater, or fighter, or duellist, or dandy, or coquette, which 
causes unhappiness to the possessor and to all concerned. If Self- 
Esteem be governed by intellect and moral feeling, it imparts noble- 
ness and elevation to the character and conduct, which sheds a beam 
of exalted pleasure on its possessor and on all around him ; but when 
not thus governed, it degenerates into egotism, self-conceit, imperative- 
ness, and superciliousness, which gives pain to himself and to all af- 
fected by this quality in him. 

" Let Cautiousness be exercised without intellect, that is, when there 
is no reason for being afraid, and it produces evil only ; but let intel- 
lect govern it, so that it is exercised only when there is real danger to 
be avoided, or let it be exercised with Benevolence, or Justice, making 
us fearful lest we do wrong, or careful not to injure others, and its 
product is most beneficial. This principle might be illustrated and 
enforced by Amativeness, and indeed by every one of the lower or- 
gans, and also reversed by showing how happy is the man who gov- 
erns his principles and conduct by enlightened intellect and high-toned 
moral sentiments, but it is already rendered too plain to require it. In 
short, man is constituted to be governed thoughout by his higher fac- 
ulties, and there is no enjoyment for him unless he puts intellect on 
the throne and the moral sentimemts as joint rulers of the kingdom of 
his animal nature. Much of the evil existing in society, much of the 
suffering which stares at us wherever we turn our eyes, have their 
origin in the violation of this law. Nor is the misery, so extensive, 
to be wondered at, if we consider that nineteen-twentieth of the time, 
desires, pursuits, pleasures, anxieties, &c, of mankined are consumed 
in feeding and gratifying his animal nature merely ; in scrambling 
after property ; in getting something to eat, and drink, and wear, and 
live in, and show off with ; in gratifying his love or power, his grasp- 
ing ambition ; in politics, friendship, and family cares j in combating 



195 EXISTENCE OF MORAL LAWS. 41 

contending, backbiting, lasciviousness, and like animal gratifications. 
War, love, money, and display, sum up the history of man since his 
creation to the present time. Before man can become virtuous and 
happy, his animal nature must be subjected to the control of his moral 
and intellectual faculties. 

" This animality of man is in striking harmony with the fact, that 
a large proportion of the human brain is in the region of the feelings, 
while but a small moiety is found in the region of the intellect." And 
before man can enjoy life, he must take time from the fashionable 
world, from the money-making world, from the red-hot pursuit of 
animal gratification, to exercise, cultivate, and adorn his moral nature. 
To be happy, man must be eminently moral and religious — must sub- 
jugate the entire animal, to the moral and the intellectual. And he 
is the most happy, who does this the most habitually, the most effec- 
tually. 

For three reasons, then, (the first, that the moral organs occupy the 
highest position in the head, the crowning portion of man ; the second, 
that they occupy so large a section of the brain, and the third, that they 
are the natural, constitutional guides and governors of the propensities.) 
should the moral nature of man be known, and its laws be obeyed. No 
tongue can tell, no finite mind can conceive, the amount of pleasure and 
pain it is in the power of the moral faculties to occasion. All the abom- 
inations of Paganism are caused by their perversion. All the blessings 
of that religion which is peaceable, pure, and undefiled, and that fadeth 
not away, it is in the power of the moral faculties to bestow. Theirs 
it is, to sweeten every pleasure of life, and to blacken and deepen every 
crime which it is possible for man to commit. 

How all-important, then, that we understand their true function — that 
we derive therefrom all the happiness they are capable of affording, and 
escape all the pains it is in their power to inflict. This knowledge will 
set us right. It will banish sectarianism. It will tell us just how to live 
in harmony with our nature. It will tell us what is right and what is 
wrong. And Phrenology will certainly impart this knowledge. It will 
give us the science of man's moral nature. It will tell us every line, 
every lineament of our moral constitution. In telling us this, it will also 
tell us what doctrines, what practices, harmonize with that nature, and 
what conflict therewith. It will unravel the whole web of true religion, 
of pure morality. That man's moral nature has its laws, there is no 
question. Some things are right : some things are wrong. The for- 
mer are right because they harmonize with these laws. There is a mo- 
ral science, as much as physical. Wherever there are laws, there sci- 
ence exists. And to suppose that this department of man's nature is 
tmgoverned by law, is to suppose that the Author of nature has forgotten 



42 THE LOCATION OF THE MORAL ORGANS. 196 

or omitted to institute that system of laws, causes and effects, in this de- 
partment of his works which are so eminently wise and beneficial in 
every other department of nature. Is this whole field of human nature 
indeed a barren waste? No right? No wrong? No laws? No 
causes? No happpiness? No suffering? Preposterous in theory! 
Contradicted by fact! No! There is a right. There is a wrong. 
Right is right, because it harmonizes with these laws, just shown to exist. 
The wrong is wrong, and wrong because it violates these laws. Nor 
are these laws either above his comprehension, or beneath his notice. 
Neither too abstruce to be deciphered, nor too simple to be worth 
investigation. They are completely within the scope of his mental 
vision, the range of his intellectual powers. He can even comprehend 
all that is necessary for him to know. Nor need any more doubt hang 
around this subject than now hangs about a mathematical problem, or 
about any other scientific truth. Not only does there exist a moral 
science, but that science is demonstrable. I use the word demonstrable 
in its true signification. I mean that we can prove — can demonstrate — 
any moral truth just as clearly, just as conclusively, as we can demon- 
strate any mathematical problem, any anatomical fact, any scientific 
truth. Of all this sectarian contention, there is no need. It is even 
culpable. There is a right, and man can ascertain that right. Truth 
exists. It is obtainable. And when attained, it will harmonize every 
discordant opinion, every conflicting feeling. Wherever there is op- 
position of views, there error exists. Truth is one. Truth always 
harmonizes with truth. Error always clashes with truth, and usually 
with error. If there be two conflicting opinions touching the same 
point, one of them is certainly wrong. The other is liable to be. And 
if there be ten, then nine of the ten are erroneous, and perhaps the tenth 
also. This is certain. So that all but one of the conflicting creeds and 
sects out of the whole two thousand that exist, are wrong, and that one is 
not sure to be right. And out of these errors of belief grow all manner 
of errors of practice, all sorts and sizes of sins and sufferings. If a man 
believe murder to be right, errors of conduct, and consequent unhappi- 
ness to him, to others, grow out of these errors of belief. If another be- 
lieves it right to steal, or lie, his erroneous belief will lead him astray in 
conduct, and render him miserable, and all affected by this belief, or the 
conduct induced thereby, also miserable. The ancients believed unbri- 
dled licentiousness to be right, or, at least, made public prostitution a 
part of their religion, and suffered the consequent penalty of the sin 
induced thereby. True, to do right, it is not always necessary to know 
what is right, for a man may do right from intuition, or instinct ; that is 



197 MORAL SCIENCE. 43 

by simply following the original impulses of his nature. Still, to believe 
wrong to be right, is almost certain to induce wrong conduct, the ne- 
cessary consequences of which are pain. 

But how shall we know what is right, and what wrong. By what 
standard shall we try all our creeds, all our practices ? By the stand- 
ard of the nature of man. That nature is all right — is perfection itself 
— as perfect as even a God could make it. To suppose otherwise is to 
arraign the workmanship of the Deity. Hence, to follow that nature 
in belief, in practice, is to believe right — to do right. That nature has 
its laws. The fulfilling of these laws is the cause of right, the cause of 
happiness. Their violation, is the cause of sin, the cause of suffering. 

But where can we find an unerring exposition of the moral nature 
of man ? Such an expositor, once found, is our talisman, our philoso- 
pher's stone, in all matters of religious belief and practice. That found, 
we need nothing else. That obeyed, we are as perfect in conduct as 
we are by creation. Where, then, can that stone be found ? In heaven ? 
No, for we cannot get at it there. In the decalogue ? No, it is too 
short. In the Bible ? No, not all of it. But in the pages of Phreno- 
logy. That dissects, it lays man's moral nature completely open, and 
reveals every shread and fibre of it. Every law, every requirement, 
every doctrine, every action, required by the nature of man, will be 
found in this book of man's moral and religious nature. And this sci- 
ence puts all these doctrines, all these requirements, on a scientific 
basis, on that same basis of positive, actual fact, on which the science of 
mathematics places every mathematical truth ; or of astronomy, any 
astronomical truth ; or of anatomy, any anatomical truth ; or of 
chymistry, any chymical fact ; or of induction, any matter of inductive 
philosophy. It is all put upon this basis. Nothing is left at loose ends. 
It is all exact. All demonstrable. All certain. And all plain, too. 
No mist envelopes any point of it. No dark spots remain upon its 
horizon. Every fact is as light as the noon day sun of eternal truth, and 
unquestionable science, can make it. And I hail with joy the science 
that can do this. That is now actually doing all this. That is des- 
tined, ultimately, to do all this, yea, even greater works than these. 
That will both banish all sectarian deformities and parrisites, so that 
not a sect, not a sectarian, shall exist, but which will throw a literal 
flood of light and truth on this whole department of the nature of man, 
which it would dazzle our now benighted vision to behold. 

Gracious heaven ! Is there indeed such a treasure within our reach ? 
Has so glorious a moral sun indeed dawned upon the sectarian dark- 
ness and bigotry of ages ? Aye, verily. Let us proceed cautiously, 



44 THE MORAL FACULTIES PECULIAR TO MAN. 198 

but thoroughly, to unravel this thread of man's moral and religious 
texture and constitution. Let us bury preconceived doctrines. Let us 
come up to this work as sincere inquirers after truth. Let us learn 
from it our moral duties, our moral destinies. 

But, in order fully to comprehend the moral bearings, precepts, and 
principles taught by Phrenology, we must analyze the moral faculties. 
This will teach us their nature and true functions, and, therewith, the 
moral nature and constitution of man, as well as show what doctrines 
they teach, \vhat conduct they require. 

It should here be added, what has all along been implied, that the 
moral faculties themselves, unenlightened by reason, are but blind feel- 
ings, mere religious impulses. To produce the good effects above 
ascribed to them, it is indispensably necessary that they be guided by 
enlightened intellect, and governed entirely by the dictates of reason, 
as will be more fully seen hereafter. 



CHAPTER II. 

THE ANALYSIS OF THE MORAL FACULTIES, AND THE INFER- 
ENCES CONSEQUENT THEREON. 

The organs of the moral faculties are all located together in a kind 
of family group, upon the top of the head. They are thus removed as 
far as possible from the body, so that their bland, mild, softening, hea- 
venly, harmonious action may be interrupted as little as possible by 
those causes which disease, disorder, or inflame the body, and, thereby, 
the propensities in particular. When fully developed, they cause the 
head to rise far above the ears, and become elongated upon the top, 
thereby rendering it high and long upon the top, rather than wide and 
conical. They may be very correctly measured, by observing the 
amount of brain located above Cautiousness and Causality. They are 
much larger in woman than in man, and their faculties are stronger, as 
is evinced by the fact, that about two-thirds of our church members are 
females, and that piety in woman is the crowning excellence of her 
sex, while its absence is a moral blemish which no cluster of virtues 
can efface. 

They are peculiar to man. In the brute creation, they are wanting, 
or too much so to be taken into the account. They are equally defL 



199 ANALYSIS OF VENERATION. 45 

cient in their character. Thus, a dog cannot be taught to worship 
God j nor a tiger, to pray ; because neither is endowed by nature 
with either the moral or religious organs or faculties. And this dou- 
ble absence of both organ and faculty, forms a strong proof of the 
truth of Phrenology, while the presence of either, without the other, 
would prostrate the science. But, it so is, that man is both the only 
animal possessed of the moral organs, and also the only terrestrial be- 
ing endowed with the moral and religious faculties that accompany 
them. This fact furnishes a positive proof of the truth of Phrenology 
as extensive, as diversified, as the whole human family, on the one 
hand, and the entire brute creation, on the other, can render it. 



SECTION I. 

VENERATION. ITS ANALYSIS, AND THE EXISTENCE OF A GOD. 

Adoration of a God; the Spiritual worship of a Supreme Being; Devotion; 
Eeverence for religion and things sacred ; Disposition to pray and to observe 
religious rites and ordinances. 

Gall, the discoverer of this organ and faculty, observed, that his 
brother, whom his father intended and had fitted for the mercantile 
calling, but whose religious feelings were so strong as to tear him 
from all other pursuits, overcome all obstacles, and finally force him 
to enter the clerical profession, was largely developed upon the top of 
his head. He afterwards observed, that the heads of those who visit- 
ed the temples for prayer and religious observances most frequently, 
and remained longest at their devotions, were similarly developed. 
He at first, called it the organ of Theosophy, or the science of reli- 
gion. 

It creates the feeling of awe of God. It excites the spirit of prayer 
and praise to the Supreme Ruler of the universe. It delights to me- 
ditate on his character, and to study his works. It induces a general, 
spiritual state of mind, a devout, religious feeling, which fills the soul 
with holy aspirations and heavenly pleasures, and attaches its posses- 
sor to those religious observances which are considered as an expres- 
sion of these feelings. It creates a sense of the Divine presence, a feel- 
ing of nearness to God, and desire to hold communion with the Crea- 
tor of all things. It elevates the soul above the things of earth, and 
places it on Divine things, and delights to contemplate his character, 
and to bow before his throne in devout adoration and praise. 



46 ANALYSIS OF VENERATION. 200 

This organ is divided. While the back part, next to Firmness and 
Conscientiousness, gives the devout, religious feeling just ascribed to 
it, the frontal portion, creates respect for elders and superiors, and vene- 
rates the ancient and sacred. It is the conservative faculty, and, while 
the other faculties reform abuses, this faculty prevents sudden changes, 
and discountenances radicalism. It is usually small in the American 
head and character, being rendered so, doubtless, by the necessary ten- 
dency of our republican institutions. I would not urge adherence to 
what is wrong, but I would respect, aye, pay deference to superiors, 
and show respect towards all Let a deferential feeling be cultivated 
in our youth. Let impudence, and disorder, be discountenanced. Let 
this faculty be cultivated, or our liberty will become lawlessness, and 
our republic but an unmeaning name. 

The existence and analysis of this organ, establishes, past all cavil 
and controversy, the existance of a God. The argument, or rather 
fact, by which this great truth is established, is this : Every organ 
has its own primitive, natural function, and also adaptation. Or, 
rather, the primordial function of every organ, is adapted to some one 
law of nature or want of man. Thus, Parental Love is adapted to 
the infantile condition of man. Causality adapts man to a world 
governed by causes and effeets, and enables him to apply these 
causes to the production of desired results. Cautiousness is adapted 
to a world of danger. Combativeness, to difficulties. Individuality, 
to the identity or existence of things. Form, to the great arrange- 
ment of shape or configuration. Size, to that of bulk, or of big and 
little. Color, to the primitive colors. Weight, to the laws of gravity. 
Order, to that perfect system which characterizes all nature. Locality, 
to space. Ideality, to the beautiful in nature and art. Constructive- 
ness, to our need of garments, houses, tools and things made. Appetite, 
to the great arrangement, or demand and supply, of nutrition. Ac- 
quisitiveness, to our need of property. Amativeness, to the different 
sexes, &c. 

Veneration, therefore, has its adaptation or counterpart in the na- 
ture of things ; and that adaptation is to the existence and toorship of 
a Divine Being. This argumeat is short, but perfectly demonstra- 
tive. It cannot be evaded. It leaves no chance for cavil. Phreno- 
logy establishes the existence of the organ, and the nature of its func- 
tion, namely, the worship of God. Therefore, there is a God to be 
worshipped — a Spiritual Being, adapted to Veneration, to whom this 
organ can lift up its prayers, and with whom hold sweet communion. 
Throughout all nature, whenever and wherever one thing exists and 



201 EXISTENCE OF A GOD. 47 

is adapted to a second, the existence of the second is sure, else nature 
would he at fault. If this argument is not proof positive, then there 
is no proof, and no argument can ever prove any thing ; for this is 
proof of the strongest possible kind. An anomaly like the existence 
of any one thing in nature, adapted to that which never existed, can 
no where he found. No axiom in philosophy is more fully establish- 
ed than this, that when one thing exists, and is adapted to a second, 
the second also exists, or has existed. Ransack all nature, and not 
one solitary instance can be found, either in the world of mind or 
matter, of one thing's being adapted to another thing which does not ex- 
ist, or has not existed. Thus : If you find a tooth, you feel as sure that a 
socket exists or has existed, to which this tooth is adapted, as of your 
own existence. If you find an eye adapted to its socket, or a bone 
adapted to articulate upon another bone, you feel quite certain of the 
present or past existence of the socket, or the bone to which it is 
adapted. So of every thing else in the world of either mind or matter. 

Veneration, therefore, has its adaptation, and that adaptation is to 
the existence and worship of a God, as much as the eye is adapted to 
seeing, or the ear to hearing. As the existence of the eye, and its 
adaptation to light, pre-suppose and necessarily imply the existence of 
that light to which it is adapted ; as the existence of the stomach, and 
its adaptation to food, pre-suppose and necessarily imply the existence 
of food adapted to it ; the adaptation of the lungs to air, and the air to 
the lungs ; of Causality to the laws of Causation, and laws of Causa- 
tion to Causality ; and so of illustrations innumerable scattered through- 
out nature, and indeed constituting a great portion of nature ; so the 
existence of Veneration, and its adaptation to Divine worship, pre- 
suppose and necessarily imply the existence of a Deity to be wor- 
shipped. 

This argument is short, but on that very account, the more unan- 
swerable. It has but two points: the one, that one thing's being 
adapted to another, proves the existence of the other — a principle of 
philosophy which allows of no exceptions ; and the other point, the 
fact of the adaptation of Veneration to this Divine worship. The first 
admits of no cavil whatever, and the second of none that is available. 
If it be objected, that its adaptation is to superiors, and that its fnnction 
is that of deference and obedience to men, I answer: We have ano- 
ther facnlty expressly adapted to that office ; namely, the fore part of 
Veneration. 

Besides, man does certainly worship a God. Where is the human 
being who has never feared, loved, or worshipped a Divine spirit, the 
great Architect of heaven and earth, the great prime-moving Cause 



48 WORSHIP OF GOD A PRIMITIVE FACULTY. 202 

of causes. Standing upon the top of some lofty eminence which com- 
mands a view of some vast, variegated, indescribably beantiful plain 
below, loaded with nature's choicest treasures, and skirted with yon- 
der bold cliffs and rugged mountains, rising one above another till 
they hide their majestic heads in the clouds; or beholding, in mute 
astonishment, the cataract of Niagara, in all its sublimity and gran- 
deur ; or watching the swift lightning, and hearing peal on peal of 
roaring thunder ; or witnessing the commotion of the elements, and the 
raging and dashing of the angry seas ; or examining minutely the 
parts of the flower, and the adaptation of every part to the perform- 
ance of its own appropriate function ; or the organs and adaptions of 
our own wonderful mechanism ; or, indeed, scrutinizing any of the 
innumerable contrivances and adaptations with which all nature is 
teeming ; where is the moral man, endowed with an intellect capable 
of perceiving these wonders and beauties, whose heart does not kindle 
with glowing emotions of adoration and praise, rising, not alone to 
nature herself, but mainly to the Architect and Author of nature ? 
Who that has never felt — never realized — the existence of a spirit in na- 
ture analogous to the God of the Christian ? And if, perchance, in 
some dark corner of our earth, a human soul should be found, which 
never felt this sentiment of Divine worship, just as there are some 
whose organs of Color are too small to perceive the colors of the rain- 
bow, does this prove that this sentiment does not exist in any other 
soul ? Shall the blind man who can see no sun, assert that therefore 
there is, none ? Shall those who cannot see, guide those who can ? 
Shall those who experience this heaven-born emotion, be argued 
out of the existence of this emotion, because, forsooth, some self-made 
Atheist says he has never experienced it ? If one does not experi- 
ence this sentiment, another does, and this argument rests not on the 
fact that all experience this emotion, but on the fact that any do. If, 
from the first opening of the eyes of Adam upon the surrounding 
beauties of creation, down to the present time, a single human soul 
has poured forth a single heart-felt offering of prayer and thanksgiv- 
ing to a Divine spirit, he has exercised some organ in this worship, and 
that organ is Veneration. This organ, this alone, worships a God. 
Each of the other organs has its own specific function to perform, so 
that no other organ can perform this function. But the function 
of Divine worship is exercised by man. As well tell me that the 
sun never shined, as to tell me that man has never worshipped a 
Spiritual Being. What mean yonder towering steeples, yonder 
houses erected in every town and hamlet, in Christian and in Pagan 
lands, to the worship of God ? What means yonder Hindoo widow, 



203 EXISTENCE OF A GOD. 49 

voluntarily ascending- the funeral pile of her departed husband, or yon- 
der mother committing her darling child to the deified waters of the 
Ganges ? Seest thou yonder towering pagoda ; yonder temple of 
Juggernaut ; yonder thronged mosque ; yonder altar, reeking with 
human gore, just offered up in sacrifice to God ; yonder solemn con- 
vent ; yonder crowded sanctuary 1 Hark ! Hearest thou, in yonder 
secret closet, the soft accents of heart-felt prayer and praise to the Al- 
mighty Giver of every good ? Look again. Dost thou see yonder 
domestic group, bowed down around the family altar, all offering up 
their morning or evening sacrifices of prayer and thanksgiving to the 
God of every mercy and blessing, and supplicating their continuance ? 
Tellest thou me, these do not sincerely worship a Deity ? Indeed, 
nothing is more plain, no fact is more apparent and universal than 
this, that man does icorship a God ; and the amount of this worship is 
inconceivably great. It is natural for man thus to worship. He can 
no more live and be happy without adoring a God, than without rea- 
son, or any other equally essential faculty. Man worships a Deity, 
and has an organ of Veneration adapting him to that worship ; there- 
fore, there is a God adapted to this organ. 

Besides : every other organ and faculty are completely engrossed in 
performing each its own function, leaving no other one but Venera- 
tion to exercise this devotional feeling. Thus, Philoprogenitiveness 
is completely engrossed in loving and providing for children. It has 
no time, no capacity to worship. Combativeness is all engrossed in 
resisting and defending, so that it cannot worship, nor is it capable of 
exercising any other than its own appropriate feeling. So, Appetite 
is all taken up with table luxuries. It is too greedy ever to think of 
exercising the feeling of worship. And, besides, it could not if it 
would. So, Acquisitiveness is exclusively occupied in hoarding, and 
does nothing else. Cautiousness is full of its alarms. It does not, it 
cannot, worship. Ideality is so completely absorbed in contemplating 
and admiring the glowing beauties that throng in upon its delighted, 
extatic vision from every quarter, that, though it may admire the beau- 
ties of creation, yet it cannot worship their Author. Causality does 
not, cannot worship a God. It is completely engrossed in searching 
out and applying causes. Though it may reason out the fact of the 
existence of a great first cause, yet it goes no farther. It can do no 
more. It does not, it never can, fall down on the bended knees of de- 
votion, and worship Him ; because, to investigate and apply causes, is 
its sole function. Its constitution precludes its exercising any other. 
Similar remarks apply to Benevolence, to Comparison, to each of the 
4 



50 ' EXISTENCE OF A GOD. 204 

intellectual faculties, to each of the propensities and feelings, and to 
every mental and moral element of man. So that there is no other 
organ or faculty hut Veneration left to exercise this worshipping 
function. But this function is exercised as just seen. And the amount 
of its exercise is inconceivably great. Too great to be the result of 
habit. Too universal to be the product of education. If this senti 
ment were not engrafted upon the nature of man, it would not be pos 
sible for education to perpetuate it. It would be as if eating were not 
constitutional, and therefore a perfect drudge, all up-hill work, and s<r 
thoroughly irksome as to be soon forgotten and lost in the oblivion of 
the past. I repeat : Nothing but the fact that the sentiment of wor 
ship is constitutional, is inwrought into the nature of man, is a consti 
tuent part and parcel of his very self, just as is breathing, or sleeping, 
or eating, could account for either its perpetuity or its universality, or 
its power over the feelings and conduct of mankind. It must be consti- 
tutional. It is constitutional. And rendered so by the existence, in 
man, of a primitive faculty, the sole office of which is to worship a Su- 
preme Being, the great Cause of causes, the God of heaven and 
earth. 

Again, every organ performs some important function. Without 
any Causality, or power of reasoning and adapting means to ends t 
what a great hiatus would exist in the human mind ? If all power 
of observation were destroyed ; or if Individuality were wholly wan- 
ting ; if Weight were entirely inert, so that we could not stand or 
move ; if any one of man's faculties were annihilated, the chasm, the 
aching void thus formed, would be great indeed; because, every 
organ performs a function indispensable to man's happiness. Vener- 
ation has some function, some important function, some function, the 
loss of which would create an aching void quite as great as the loss 
of those already mentioned. What, then, is that function '? Deference 
for man ? But this is preformed by another faculty. There is no 
function left, important or unimportant, for Veneration to exercise but 
that of worshipping God. 

Turning to the history of its discovery, we find this view reiterated 
and confirmed. Gall and Spurzheim, our highest authorities in this 
matter, both regarded its function as that of worship of God, and so does 
every Phrenologist worth referring to. In fact, that is its function. 
Man does worship his God by means of it, and that worship is its na- 
tural, not its distorted, perverted, exotic function. It is adapted to the 
worship of a God ; therefore, there is a God adapted to this faculty, or 
to receiving the homage it was created to offer up. 



205 THE EXERCISE OF THE FUNCTION OF WORSHIP. 51 

If any doubt remain on this point, it is obviated by Phreno-Magnet- 
lsm. On magnetizing any organ, the spontaneous function of its fac- 
ulty bursts forth instantaneously and powerfully. Every faculty is 
thus stripped of all artificial influences, and exhibits itself in its naked, 
primitive state. I have never seen the back part of Veneration mag- 
netized, without also seeing the subject clasp and raise the hands in the 
attitude of worship, assume a devotional aspect and tone of voice, and 
express a desire to pray, or else break forth in the worship of God, en- 
raptured in contemplating him. Thus is the worshipping function of 
this faculty established by Phrenology beyond all dispute. No pro- 
position in Geometry is more fully proved than this ; and the infer- 
ence that therefore there is a God, follows as a necessary eonsequence. 

If to this it be objected that " most men adopt those religious views 
and practices in which they were educated," and that therefore religion 
is taught, I answer, that before any one can be taught any thing, he 
must have some original, primary quality capable of being taught. 
Can you teach a dog to be solemn in church, or a swine to pray ? But 
why not ? For the same reason that you cannot teach a blind man to 
see, or a deaf man to hear, or a man without limbs to use them ; namely, 
because he has no original, primitive faculty, capable of being taught. 
And the very fact that men can be taught to pray and to worship 
God, proves that they have that very primitive faculty of prayer con- 
tended for. 

In thus establishing the function of worship as appertaining to the 
human mind, Phrenology also establishes and enforces the duty and 
utility of its exercise. Every organ was made to be exercised, and 
hence that exercise becomes a duty, and also a privilege ; for, the 
right exercise of every faculty, gives pleasure in proportion to the 
size of its organ. Veneration is a large organ, and as such, its exer 
cise affords a fountain of the richest and most exalted pleasure. 
Every living mortal, then, should daily and hourly breathe forth holy 
aspirations of prayer and praise to his Maker — should " keep the 
fear of God continually before his eyes;" should cultivate pious 
feelings always. Thus saith Phrenology. 

And now, reader, art thou satisfied as to whether Phrenology leads 
to infidelity and atheism ? Is not its moral bearing in this respect 
in beautiful harmony with the requirements of Revelation? The 
one requires all human beings to worship God in spirit and in truth, 
and to remember that " Thou God seest me," and the other, by im- 
planting this Divine sentiment in the breast of every man, also re- 



52 SECTARIANISM — ITS CAUSE AND REMEDY. 206 

quires of him that he exercise it daily and habitually in religious 
worship. 

To this doctrine that Phrenology proves the existence of a God, 
by pointing out a natural sentiment of worshipping a God, it is often 
objected, that, " If. this religious sentiment were natural, it would lead 
all men to entertain similar and correct religious opinions, and give- 
all the same views in regard to right and wrong. But men's relig- 
ious opinions differ as much as do their faces ; producing all our sec- 
tarian diversities, as well as every form of Pagan worship, however 
revolting and criminal." To this I answer, (and this answer not only 
satisfactorily explains the cause of these religious differences, but also 
developes the only true religion, and teaches us the true attributes of 
the Deity,) that every phrenological faculty constitutes a medium, or 
as, it were, the colored glass, through which the mind looks at all ob- 
jects. As, when we look at objects through green glasses, they look 
green ; when through yellow glasses, they look yellow ; when 
through dark shaded or smoky glasses, they look dark, gloomy, or 
smoky ; when through glasses that are light shaded, they look light ; 
when through red glasses, every thing beheld assumes a fiery red 
aspect, and that, too, whatever may be the actual color of those ob- 
jects observed — so the phrenological organs constitute the mental 
glasses through which we look at mental and moral objects. Thus, 
those in whom Acquisitiveness or love of money, prevails, look at 
every thing, whether matters of science, or religion, or politics, or 
buisness, not in the light of philosophy, or the welfare of man, or of 
right and moral obligation, but in the light of dollars and cents alone. 
But he in whom Benevolence predominates, looks at all matters, not 
in the light of their effects on his pockets, but in their bearing on the 
happiness of man. He in whom Conscientiousness predominates, 
looks at, and judges of, things, neither in the light of expediency, nor 
of their pecuniary advantages, nor self-interest or popularity, but in 
that of right and duty, and abstract justice. But he in whom Appro- 
bativeness prevails, seeks popular favor, and when any new thing is 
presented to his mind, say Phrenology, or Magnetism, or any thing 
whatever, asks, as the first and main question, not, " Is it true ?" nor, 
" Is it philosophical ?" but, " What will the folks say about it, and 
about me for embracing it?" The man in whom the Reasoning 
organs predominate, asks, " Is it reasonable ? What are its laws ? 
Is it consistant with itself and with nature ?" and looks at every thing 
through the glasses of philosophy. 



207 SECTARIANISM ACCOUNTED FOR AND ENPOSED. 53 

We find an additional illustration of this principle, in appetite for 
different kinds of food. The argument is just as conclusive that ap- 
petite is not a natural, constitutional element of the human mind be- 
cause some men love some things and dislike others, while others 
like what is disliked by the former, and dislike what is liked by them, 
as that the element of worship is not a primitive faculty, because men's 
religious tastes and opinions differ. Unless appetite were natural, 
there could be no diversity even. No such idea could be entertained 
or conceived. And the very fact of such diversity, proves the point 
at issue, and leaves us to account for the fact of this diversity, just as 
we are left to account for diversity in appetites, opinions, &c. 

A story in point : — A man born blind, was once asked, what idea 
he had of colors. He answered by saying, that he had no very dis- 
tinct idea of them any way. Pressed still farther, and asked to com- 
pare his idea of them to something as nearly like them as possible, 
he said that he might not perhaps be right, but he thought they very 
much resembled the sound of a trumpet Without some primitive 
faculty for perceiving the existence of a God, and experiencing the 
sentiment of Divine worship, men could no more form an estimate of 
this whole matter, than the blind man did of colors. And the fact, 
that men do form these ideas, proves the existence of the primary fa- 
culty of devotion ; while the fact, that men differ as to their ideas of a 
God, shows that they have these ideas, and therefore have the faculty 
in question, while the fact that they differ is perfectly explainable on 
the ground that the other faculties modify these ideas, and therefore 
that this is caused by diversity in other faculties. 

To illustrate still father : A minister, or speaker, has the motive 
or powerful temperament, yet with none of the pathetic, together with 
large reasoning organs, and large conscientiousness, but small ideality, 
eventuality, and language. He is therefore a strong reasoner, and a 
good writer and theologian, yet he has no eloquence, no emotion, and 
no beauty of style, together with a most unfortunate delivery. Those 
hearers who are similarly organized, have their organs called out and 
gratified, and therefore like him much. But others who have an op- 
posite organization, finding no food for their prevailing faculties, but 
seeing the full force of every defect, dislike him as much as the others 
like him — the one liking, the other disliking him, for precisely the 
same qualities. Another minister, having an opposite organization, 
will be liked by those who disliked the former, and disliked by those 
who like him. This shows why some men think a given man 
highly talented, while others, who know him equally well, think him 



54 EXISTENCE or A GOD. 208 

a simpleton — why, in short, men differ in their tastes, desires, pur- 
suits, opinions. Still, as this diversity of opinion in matters of taste, 
does not prove that there are no first principles of taste in things, or fa- 
culty of taste in men, &c. ; so, the corresponding diversity of opinions 
as to the character of a God, does not prove that there is no primary 
element in man for the worship of God. 

Should a picture, perfect in every respect, he hung up for inspection, 
if the beholder have the organ of size only, he will take cognizance 
of the proportion of its parts and admirable perspective only, all its 
other qualities being a dead letter to him, because he has not the fac- 
ulties that perceive or admire them. But, add the organ of color, and 
he perceives a new beauty in the picture, namely, its rich and variega- 
ted shades, tints, hues, varnishes, &c. ; and is now doubly delighted be- 
cause two organs are agreeably exercised. Add large form, and a 
third beauty now breaks in upon him, namely, the perfection of the 
likeness^ and the exquisiteness of figures or shape given to the persons 
and things represented in the picture. Add ideality, and still another 
source of beauty opens upon him — its richness of taste, its admirable 
designs, its creations of fancy, i. l s perfection and harmony of parts. 
Add causality, and he sees the moral taught and the sentiment ex- 
pressed in it, and so of the other organs. His views of the picture are 
more and more perfect, and his delight greater, and still greater, by 
every new organ added. 

So of Judgment. The man who has large color, is a good judge 
of colors, but if causality be small, he is a poor judge of ways and 
means ; but he in whom causality is large and color small, is a good 
judge of plans, ways and means, the feasibility of measures, and 
every thing requiring the exercise of causality, but a poor judge of 
every thing appertaining to colors. If ideality be large and con- 
structiveness be small, his judgment of poetry, propriety, and matters 
of taste, will be good, but of mechanics, poor. If size be large and 
conscientiousness be small, he is a good judge of bulk, and the 
weight of things by looking at them, of height, perpendicularity, &c. 
yet a poor one in matters of right and wrong. If one's perceptive 
organs and acquisitiveness be large, and conscientiousness and 
causality be moderate, his judgmemt of the value of property, the 
qualities of goods, a good bargain, or horse, or any thing appertaining 
to those organs, will be good, but of moral reasoning and of what is 
right between man and man, poor indeed. But he who has all the 
organs fully and evenly developed will take consistent and correct 
views of all subjects, have good judgment about every thing, and en- 



209 SECTARIANISM ACCUNTED FOR AND EXPOSED. 55 

tertain comprehensive and consistent opinions. This principle of 
Phrenology is clear, and its application universal. Hence the Phre- 
nological developments of a man, tell us what is the color of the glasses 
through which he looks, and what kind of judgment is poor and 
what good. 

Now let us apply this principle to the religious opinions of mankind, 
for it holds equally true of his religious judgment, feelings, and opin- 
ions. Veneration worships God, but the other organs color our views 
of the character and attributes of God. Thus, the ancient Greeks and 
Romans had large veneration, and were very religious, but their other 
moral organs were small, and their animal propensities were strong, 
so that they worshipped gods of various animal passions. Their 
large veneration, combining with their very large amativeness, 
worshipped a Venus, or the goddess of love and beauty ; combining 
with their very large combativeness and destructiveness, worshipped 
a Mars, or the god of war, and carnage, and blood ; with their pow- 
erful alimentiveness, worshipped a Bacchus, or the god of feasting, 
revelry, and wine; with their large acquisitiveness, worshipped the 
god Terminus, who guarded their boundaries, and protected their 
goods from pillage ; with large secretiveness, worshipped a Mercury, 
or the god of cunning, finesse, duplicity, theft, &c. But they had 
large intellectual organs, as well as powerful, unbridled passions. 
Hence, they worshipped a Jupiter, the great director and manager of 
the universe, and the governor of the gods ; but a god full of most 
disgusting amours, most vindictive and revengeful, without moral 
principle, and swayed by a power of animal passions as much above 
that of mortals as he himself was rated superior to them. 

And now, ye sectarians, do ye see why ye differ and quarrel about 
religion ? Your organs differ, and this diversifies and distracts your 
religious views and feelings. One sect has one set of organs, or looks 
through glasses of one color, and another sect has on glasses of anoth- 
er color, and both are looking at the same object and quarrelling 
about its color. One has got on green glasses, and is stoutly contend- 
ing that God is green ; another, with yellow glasses on, is as stoutly 
contradicting the greenness* of the Deity, and maintaining that he is 
yellow. But the Atheist has black glasses on, which shut out all light, 
and therefore he maintains that there is no God, because he can see 
none. Foolish all . Take off your glasses. Look at God with the 

* Far be it from me to make light of things sacred, but I do design to ridicule 
sectarianism for maintaining absurdities as great as that God is green, or yellew. 



56 EXISTENCE OF A GOD. 210 

natural eye of fully and evenly developed moral organs, and you will 
" behold him as he is," and " worship him in spirit and in truth." 

In accordance with this principle, each modern religious sect has 
its own peculiar set of phrenological developments, which harmonizes 
perfectly which the peculiarities of its creed. To show minutely what 
developments characterize each, and their departures from the only 
true standard of religious faith and practice involved in this principle, , 
would be to thrust my face into a hornet's nest of the worst character, 
which is unnecessary, yet I will give a few illustrations. Universa- 
lists almost invariably have large veneration, combined with predom- 
inant benevolence and adhesiveness, and moderate destructiveness, 
and hence they adore God for his goodness mainly, and dwell in 
glowing colors upon his love ; while the old-fashioned Calvinists 
usually have large veneration, with predominant self-esteem and 
firmness, and large conscientiousness, and accordingly adore the 
sovereignty and unbending justice of God. Has not the reader often 
seen stiff orthodox deacons, whose heads rose rapidly from the intellec- 
tual organs to firmness and self-esteem, showing more reverence 
than benevolence, and more firmness and conscientiousness than 
either, with a tolerably wide head ? But did a Methodist, or Univer- 
salist, or Unitarian, or Episcopalian, ever have this form of head? 
These remarks do not apply, however, to Congregationalists, nor to be- 
lievers in the "New School" doctrines, whose conscientiousness usu- 
ally predominates and self-esteem is only moderate, and destructive- 
ness seldom more than full, and whose high-toned, or rather ultra 
Calvinistic notions, are materially softened down. In them, amative- 
ness is usually moderate, and accordingly they abhor no sin more than 
its perversion. Episcopalians usually have large veneration, with 
predominant benevolence and large ideality, firmness, self-esteem 
and social faculties, consicentiousness being not always large, though 
often full ; and hence they place their religion in works of charity, 
and in attending " the church/' rather than in penitence, and are not 
as strict and rigid as the orthodox ; yet they are always genteel, rather 
exclusive, and eminently social. Nearly all their women have su- 
perior heads, are remarkable for devotion, good sense, for the domes- 
tic qualities, and especially for benevolence. The Quakers have no 
characteristic moral developments, and accordingly allow their mem- 
bers to hold any and every belief, provided they do thus and so. In- 
fidels, Deists, &c, usually have moderate hope, small veneration, 
scarcely the least marvellousness, large benevolence, and conscien- 



211 SECTARIANISM ACCOUNTED FOR AND EXPOSED. 57 

tiousness variable. I never saw one of Infidel sentiments who had not 
a poorly balanced moral head.* 

Those who have conscientiousnes predominant, with small vener- 
ation and marvellousness, place their religion in doing right, or in 
honesty and morality, but disregard the externals of religion, while 
those in whom these organs are reversed, attend to its outward forms 
and ceremonies : but, though they are devout, yet they are often unjust 
and immoral. Those in whom benevolence predominates, place their 
religion in doing good, to the neglect of other Christian duties ; those in 
whom marvellousness is great, regard religion as consisting in faith, 
and implicit reliance upon Divine providence ; but those in whom this 
organ is small, do not feel that awe of God, that sense of the Divine 
presence, which this faculty inspires, but attribute all events to cause 
and effect. But those in whom all these organs are fully and evenly 
developed, " put on the whole armor of righteousness." They do 
good, do right, worship their God, and trust in his providence ; 
which, united,- constitute the very perfection of the Christian charac- 
ter. Such live a blameless life, worthy of admiration and imitation ; 
whilst imperfect religious faith or practice is the natural fruit of un- 
evenly developed moral organs. 

In harmony with this principle, that each phrenological organ 
stamps its impress upon the religious opinions of its possessor, it fol- 
lows, that those in whom all the moral organs are fully and evenly 
developed, will entertain consistent and correct religious opinions, 
and view the character and attributes of the Deity as they art. If, as 
already, seen, . veneration, with predominant benevolence", worship a 
God of kindness ; with predominant conscientiousness, a God of un- 
bending justice ; with large causality, as the great first Cause of all 
things ; with large self-esteem and firmness, as the great Sovereign of 
the universe, immutable, omnipotent, unchanging and unchangable ; 
clothed with authority, and doing his own will and pleasure in the 

* The proverb that we judge others by ourselves, is in harmony with this 
principle, and illustrates it. Thousands of times in my professional practice, 
when I have ascribed to a man a strong ruling passion, say love of praise, for 
example, telling him that he is excessively sensitive to praise and reproach, 
if And so is every one," is the usual reply. Perhaps the next man I examine, 
will have small Approbativeness and large Self-Esteem. I tell him that he does 
not care a straw for the opinions of others. " Well, who does ? for I'm sure I 
don't," or, " He's a fool who does," is apt to be the response. What we love 
desire, hate, &c, we are almost sure to think others love, desire, hate, &e., and 
most men Judge others by themselves, which is only another illustration of this 
principle. 



58 EXISTENCE OF A GOD. 212 

armies of heaven above, and among the inhabitants of the earth be- 
neath, &c. ; then one in whom benevolence is large, will worship 
him for his great goodness to the children of men ; in whom benev- 
olence and Conscientiousness both predominate, as kind but just ; and 
with firmness, combativeness, destructiveness, and self-esteem add- 
ed, as " a God merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant 
in goodness and truth, and who will by no means clear the guilty ;" 
as perfectly holy himself, and requiring holiness in all his creatures ; 
as creating and governing them with a wise reference to their great- 
est ultimate good, and in doing this, as rewarding those who obey his 
laws, and as punishing those who disobey ; or, rather, as infinitely 
benevolent, yet as a God who will " not let the wicked go unpunish- 
ed ;" with large cautiousness and philoprogenitivenes, as exercising 
a fatherly care over his children, and providing a bountiful supply 
for all their wants, &c. Hence, one having all these organs fully 
and evenly developed, will take all* the characteristics of the Deity 
into account, and give each their due proportion ; because the moral 
constitution of things must necessarily harmonize with the moral 
character and attributes of God, and man's moral character, as far 
as it goes, must tally with the attributes of the Deity, as already seen. 
Consequently, if an individual possess a well-balanced and a perfectly 
developed phrenological organization,! or have all the organs large 
and unperverted ; his views of the character, attributes, and govern- 
ment of God, will be consistent and correct. And the nearer one's head 
approaches to this phrenological standard of perfection, the more cor- 
rect will be his moral feelings and conduct, as well as his religious 
opinions and worship. But the further one's head departs from this 
standard, that is, the more uneven one's head, and more imperfectly 
balanced his organs, the more erroneous will be his religious opin- 
ions, and proportionally imperfect his moral conduct and his worship. 

* For ought we know, the Deity may have other attributes as conspicuous in 
his character as his benevolence, or justice, or wisdom, which man has now no 
faculty for perceiving, and to which he has no faculty adapted, just as the brute 
creation have no faculty adapted to, or capable of perceiving, either his existence 
or any of his attributes. This, however, is all conjecture ; but as far as man's 
faculties do go, they harmonize with and lead him to adore God as he is to 
man. 

t In my work on Education and Self-Tmprovment. p. 115, the reader will find 
this pinciple carried out and applied to the phrenological definition of a good, 
or rather perfect, head and character — a principle than which none is more im 
portant, and the application of which will heal most of the religious and othei 
differences existing among men. 



213 VENERATION SUBDUES THE PROPENSITIES. 59 

By the application of this principle to his own head, every individ- 
ual can see at a glance the departures of his own religious opinions 
and practices from this the true standard of our nature, pointed out by 
Phrenology. If his veneration he moderate or small, he thinks too 
little of divine things, and should cultivate his sentiment of devotion. 
If his firmness, self-esteem, combativeness, and conscientiousness 
predominate over his benevolence, that is, if his head rises higher on 
the back part of the top than on the fore part of the top, and forms a 
kind of apex near the crown, his notions of the character and govern- 
ment of God are too austere and orthodox. But, on the other 
hand, if his benevolence rises high, and his conscientiousness, cau- 
tiousness and destructiveness be only moderately developed, he 
takes the other extreme, and regards God as all kindness, but not 
retributive. If causality and conscientiousness predominate, and venera- 
tion and marvellousness be moderate or small, he is too radical and ultra. 
He is speculative, hypothetical, and more moral than pious. Let him 
pray more, and theorise less. So, if veneration be larger than reason, 
let him remember, that he is too apt to believe as he is told to believe, 
and requires to use more intellect along with his religious feeling. 
But the principle is before the reader. Let each apply accordingly 
as his developments may require, and let all profit by the great lesson 
taught thereby. By this standard — this moral formula — any and 
every one should test his religion, and then should both cultivate the 
deficient moral organs, and also put his intellect over against his 
warped and contracted feelings. By analyzing the phrenological or- 
gans, his intellect can and should inform him what is the true and 
natural standard of religious belief and practice, and to this standard 
let all conform. Then will sectarianism hide its hydra head. Then 
will all embrace the same doctrines of truth, and " do works meet for 
repentance." " He that is wise, is wise for himsetf" 

It should be added that the physical position or location of venera- 
tion, as regards the other moral organs, is in beautiful keeping with 
its powerful influence over the feelings and conduct of man. As al- 
ready seen, the moral organs are grouped together in the top of the 
head, and veneration occupies the centre of this group, where it can 
unite and control, in no small degree, the action of the others. In 
harmony with this fact it is, that no organ in the human head is more 
promotive of virtue and happiness, none exerts a greater or more salu- 
tary influence over the animal passions of man, or modifies his conduct 
more, than the worship of God, and his religious opinions. What 
exalts, ennobles, and purifies the soul of man more — what more effec- 



60 THE TRUE STANDARD OF RELIGION. 214 

ttrally restrains his boiling, furious passions, than the thought, " Thou, 
God, seest me" ? Who, while realizing that the eye of his Maker 
and final Judge is steadfastly fixed upon him, can knowingly commit 
sin ? And if you wish effectually to restrain childhood and youth, pray 
with the erring sinner, and you will subdue him and his passions. 
Or if your own animal lustings require restraint, if temptation be 
strong and resistance be weak, pray to thy Father who seeth in secret, 
pray fervently and cultivate an abiding sense of his presence, and he 
will succor thee, and give thee the victory over thy easily desetting sins ; 
for, veneration is the natural antagonist of the animal propensities. 
Nor is it till the propensities have wheedled and cajoled veneration into 
the adoption of a religion in which they can find gratification, that 
man can be wicked and yet he devout. Think you, that, unless thfe 
excessive approbativness, or the besetting vanity of modern, so ealled, 
Christians, had cast dust in the eyes of intellect, and coaxed veneration 
into a tacit admission, that decent attire is promotive of worship, ven- 
eration would have at all tolerated the disgnsting and wicked vanity, 
and show, and fashionable glitter of our fashionable worshippers ? 
But for this perversion of veneration, long ago would she have 
driven every fashonable bonnet, and dress, and cloak, and coat, and 
hat, and corset, and bustle from the sanctuary, and interdicted church 
fellowship to every fashion-loving man and woman, and beeause they 
loved the fashions more than the plain-dressed Savior of mankind. 
Ye fashion-loving, gaudy religionists, let this merited rebuke sink 
deep into your hearts ; for, remember, that the more you think of out- 
side appearances, the less you think of the true, spiritual worship of 
God. 



215 THE TRUE RELIGION AND THE FALSE. 61 

SECTION II. 

THE TRUE RELIGION AND THE FALSE. 

And now, reader, dost thou ask, what kind of religion is that re- 
quired by Phrenology? I answer, unhesitatingly — I answer, in the 
name of this great principle of man's nature — That which harmo- 
nizes with all the faculties of man in their normal, constitutional ac- 
tion. That which calls out all ; which blends with all ; which satis- 
fies all. Thus, the socal and domestic feelings should each, all, "be 
exercised in conjunction with the religious sentiments. Connubial 
love — that sacred, heaven-born emotion of the soul of man — should 
be exercised with prayer. Animal love — lust — may not — does not — 
invoke the blessing of heaven. But I believe it to be natural for those 
who feel the sacrad fires of pure, connubial love warming their in- 
most souls, and cementing their affections, to pray for, to pray with, 
the object of their love. Husbands and wives, and also lovers, ought 
always, as their hearts go out to each other, to let them also go out 
after God. They ought to hold sweet communion together upon hea- 
ven and heavenly things ; ought to excite each other to holy deeds 
and heavenly aspirations, as well as to season all their conversation, 
their whole conduct, with the savor of religion. I do aver, in the 
light of this clearly established principle, about which there can be no 
question, that true love cannot exist, in all its power and loveliness, 
without co-existing with religion, and, vice versa, that true religion 
cannot exist in all its glory and power, without commingling with this 
sacred element. To be truly pious, and to the fullest extent, it is in- 
dispensable, not only that the person be married, really if not nomi- 
nally, but that the partner of his joys and sorrows, be also a partaker 
in his holy aspirations. This principle exhorts, commands husbands 
and wives to cultivate this reciprocity of religious feeling. And it 
admonishes those who talk religion to others, but not to their families, 
that they are inconsistent. That where they require the most, there 
they have the least. 

It also, and for the same reason, requires parents to cultivate 
the religious sentiment in their children. Parents can do this far bet- 
ter than the clergyman can. The latter see children but seldom, and 
then do not always improve every opportunity to excite the religious 
feelings. And then, too, it is not possible for any one but those who 
have the care of childhood, and are constantly iviih then, to cultivate 



62 THE TRUE RELIGION AND THE FALSE. 216 

this element. The Sahbath school teacher sees the pupil but once a 
week, and then but an hour, and what is more, he spends that hour 
in expounding some religico-doctrinal point. He rarely excites the re- 
ligious spirit. To teach a child religion, you must get the love of 
that child. Parents can do this more effectually than all others com- 
bined. Clergymen cannot do it. Sabbath school and Bible class 
teachers cannot do it. Parents must do it. And I fear that these re- 
ligious schools called Sabbath schools and Bible classes, will do more 
harm than good ; because parents will rely on them to do up the reli- 
gion for their children, and thus fail to discharge that daily duty, or, 
rather pleasure, which devolves especially on parents. And then, too, 
they are generally used to teach sectarianism. This, I abominate. 1 
would have parents teach their children religion along with science. 
I would have them £ teach God in all that is taught. Would have pa- 
rents explain the book of nature to their children — expound God in 
every thing. I would have them taught science, but I would have no 
fact taught them without teaching natural theology along with sci- 
ence, -pari passu. 

So, Phrenology recommends, even enjoins, family prayer. Family 
prayer blends the social and the devotional so beautifully ! It pro- 
motes family affection. It secures family obedience. It, especially 
in the evening, calms and quiets the mind, and prepares it for sleep. 
Indeed, families should set as much by the family altar, as by the fa- 
mily table. So, Phrenology recommends saying grace before meals — • 
that is, of exercising devotion along with appetite. Social, neighbor- 
hood prayer meetings, and the exciting of our neighbours and friends to 
religious exercises, &c, are also recommended, even enjoined, by this 
principle. At the south, where neighbors live too far apart to see 
each other often, it is quite the custom to stay an hour after service, 
and gratify the social feeling, by exchanging compliments, news, 
friendly feelings, neighborhood incidents, &c, and its participators 
describe it as most delightful. So the Quaker, strict to attend church, 
asks his friends home to dinner or supper ; and then a cordial, friend- 
ly interchange of sentiments and pleasureable feeling ensues, where 
all ceremony, all restraint, are banished, and you indeed feel at home 
and happy. This is as it should be. At all events, let us have con- 
nubial religion, parental religion, family religion, and friendly reli- 
gion, and let neither be separated from the other. 

So, we should make money, but we should never let love of riches 
interfere with religion. It should indeed be a part of our religion to 
acquire sufficient of this world's goods to live comfortably. And I 



217 RICH RELIGION. 63 

am plain to say, that I think giving money in order to promote reli- 
gion, is clearly engrafted on this principle. I believe it to be right — 
to be promotive of our own happiness — that we give money to ad- 
vance the cause of religion. 

It- would be quite in place here to animadvert upon the prevailing 
spirit of money-making which characterizes our age and nation, and 
is not wholly unknown to professors of religion. Well has the Bible 
pronounced the love of money to be the " root of all evil." Many — 
most — of the other vices that disgrace and torment man, come from 
this prolific source. All our robberies, burglaries, defalcations, dis- 
honesty, forgeries, gambling, racing, betting, &c. &c. to an unlimited 
extent. Many of our murders. Much of the vice and wretchedness 
of the rich, and most of the grasping, shark-like selfishness and rapa- 
city of all classes. This is not Bible religion. It is not phrenologi- 
cal religion. The former is full of denunciations against it. The 
latter reiterates these denunciations, and enforces them by the sanc- 
tions of the natural laws. Why is it, then, that those who bear the 
name of Christ, and profess to be his followers, should, in the very 
teeth of the Bible, in the face of natural religion, and in the eyes of 
their own and their children's virtue and happiness, allow them- 
selves to amass immense wealth, and so set their hearts upon it ? I 
do not see but that there is about as much of this worldly spirit, this 
lusting after "mammon," and this idolatrous worship of it, too, in the 
church as there is out of it. I do not see but that the pretended fol- 
lowers of the meek and lowly Jesus, who was so poor that he had not 
where to lay his head, have as much aristocratical exclusiveness on 
account of wealth, as those who make no such pretentions. I do not 
see that they give more — that they give as much — for the promulga- 
tion of the peace-giving, soul-cleansing " gospel of the son of man," as 
politicians do to secure party elections ; as pleasure lovers do to se- 
cure pleasure ; as other men do to secure other objects. This ought 
not so to be. Surely, the objects, ends, of the true Christian, infinitely 
supersede those of the man of the world. Why, then, should not ef- 
forts to promote the ends of religion, be made with corresponding vi- 
gor ? I do not say but that religionists often give liberally to promote 
their sectarian creeds — to build up their church — to secure the ser- 
vices of some renowned minister, and all that sort of thing. But, is 
that piety ? Does it really promote the cause of either true religion 
or human happiness ? 

So, too, I do not see but that wealth gives a man as much charac- 
ter in the church as out of it. Be a man but rich in the church, and 



64 PERNICIOUS INFLUENCE OF MAMMON. 218 

he has the say. He is the leader. Ministers, be they ever so good, 
are his play-things. The managing committee know full well, that 
they must choose and dismiss such ministers as he says, or, possibly, 
which his sinful 'propensities say, or else lose his subscription ; and 
that of course must be secured, right or wrong, come what may. 
And ministers, too, sometimes bow to the rich men of their parishes. 
Sometimes — hush ! " Tell it not in Gath." Let such church mana- 
gers, and such ministers, too, humble themselves in sackcloth and 
ashes. Behold the spectacle ! Religion, with all its high and holy 
claims — all its eternal sanctions — kneeling down and doing homage 
to the idol of mammon ! Bowing her sacred neck to his infernal 
chains ! Oh ! Jesus, are these thy sheep ? Do they bear thy image, 
and hear thy voice % I now submit, whether this pretty widely ex- 
tended fact, as to the religion of the day, does not say, and in the lan- 
guage of the Bible, " Ye have no part nor lot in this matter." This 
mammon-loving, or the Christ-following spirit and conduct, form a 
kind of test of true Christianity, and, tried by this test, weighed in 
this balance, I submit to nine-tenths of the professed followers of Jesus 
Christ, whether you are really his followers or his betrayers. I know 
this is plain talk, but, remember, it has both science and the Bible on 
its side, and only a miserly, penurious, bauble-loving propensity 
against it. The Bible says, " Be ye not conformed to this world." 
" Unless ye forsake all, and follow me, ye cannot be my disciples," 
&c, to almost any number of like passages. And Phrenology says, 
never let animal Acquisitiveness rule spiritual Devotion : Subject 
thy love of money to thy love of God. Exercise thy love of money 
never, but in obedience to thy moral sentiments. 

Reader ! Allow me to call your attention to the harmony between 
this precept of the Bible, and this requisition of Phrenology ; and then 
to ask how many tares there are growing within the folds of the 
Christian churches to every stalk of wheat ? I recommend those whose 
names are enrolled on our church records, to read a small work enti- 
tled " Mammon, the Sin of the Christian Church," and then read the 
great law of the nature of man, which requires that all the animal 
propensities be subjected to the royal family of the moral sentiments, 
whose President is, Veneration. I call upon rich Christians [? hot ice!] 
to empty their coffers, or erase their names. I tell ministers — I tell 
churches — but ye know, now. See that ye do. 

It was said above, that appetite should be exercised in conjunction 
with veneration, as well as all the other organs. The Jewish passover 
furnishes an illustration of this principle, and so does or should our 



219 THE SACRAMENTS. 65 

thanksgivings. It is proper that we eat wMi special reference to the 
exercise of the religious feelings. I do not say that all our eating 
should be of that class, nor that we should, or should not, have par- 
ticular days and seasons — annual, periodical or otherwise, for reli- 
gious festivals. I rather think, however, that we should ; partly as 
tallismen of the lapse of time, and partly that friends at a distance may 
know that on particular days, a gathering of old friends will take 
place, as on thanksgiving, or christmas, or other occasions. 

So, also, tune should be exercised with veneration. It is proper 
that we sing religion, as well as converse religion, &c. Sacred mu- 
sic is natural to man — grows spontaneously on the tree of man's na- 
ture. Remarks on the character of church music would be in place 
here, but suffice it for the present merely, that we have called the at- 
tention to this doctrine of Phrenology. 

In like manner, man should exercise his mirthfulness along with 
his religious feelings. Let us have no gloomy, acetic piety. No fears 
that we are too great sinners to be pardoned — no oppressive feelings 
of self-condemnation. Let us mingle cheerfulness, and even a spoe- 
tive mirth-making disposition, perhaps evenlaughter,along with reli- 
gion. The idea that to make fun is wrong — to be jocose and witty 
are sinful — is erroneous, and yet quite common. Many, in ignorance 
of this principle, suffer great condemnation for doing what it is per- 
fectly right that they should do, namely, being lively and jocose. If 
to be witty and funny had been sinful in itself, God would never have 
created the organ and faculty in man. But the exercise of this facul- 
ty, besides being so rich a source of enjoyment, is pre-eminently 
healthy and promotive of all the great functions of life — digestion, re- 
spiration, circulation, vitality, and all their attendant blessings. I re- 
gard the proper exercise of mirthfulness as pre-eminently a religous 
duty, as well as most happy in all its effects. 

So, also, we should exercise our intellect along with our religion. 
We should study the works of God, and the character of God as ex- 
hibited in his works. And we should especially exercise reason along 
with our religion. It is entirely proper also to open literary societies 
with prayer, and to introduce natural theology into the pulpit. If our 
clergymen would take the eye, and by unfolding its constructions, 
show how beautifully and wonderfully every part of it is adapted to 
seeing, and to light — if they would unfold man anatomically, physio- 
logically, phrenologically — would expound and present nature in her 
never-ending adaptations and contrivances, and then lead the delight- 
ed audience up from those wonderful works to their Author, showing 
them his existence and character, as evinced in those works, what a 



66 THE TRUE RELIGION AND THE FALSE. 220 

vast amount of information would they thus scatter ! How draw in 
the thoughtless and the ungodly to their meetings, for the sake of the 
intellectual feasts thus served up to them, and then convince and per- 
suad their intellects, and draw out their souls in devout adoration 
and praise. ! 

The 'phrenology of this course is this. The more organs brought 
into combined and harmonious action, the greater the pleasure and 
profit experienced thereby. By thus introducing natural facts, the 
perceptive organs are delighted and gratified ; so are also those of rea- 
son, in tracing out their adaptations, or their fitness in relation to their 
ends. And this high intellectual action reacts upon the moral feel- 
ings, greatly increasing their intensity and flow, and thus, blended 
into one harmonious whole, gratify and improve the human mind 
more than any other class of emotions it can experience. For my 
own part, nothing gives me such exalted views of God, of his charac- 
ter, wisdom, goodness, &c, as does the study of his works. Nothing 
kindles my veneration to its highest pitch of delighted and exalted 
action, equal to a beautiful landscape, a lofty summit, a wonderful 
adaptation of means to ends. Under the open canopy of heaven, sur- 
rounded by the beauties of nature, admiring the glories of the rising or 
setting sun, or gazing at the starry expanse over my head, it is that 
my soul is lifted up to the third heaven of delight and devotion, while 
sectarian religious worship is stale and insipid compared with it. 
And yet our clergymen rarely ever think of introducing natural the- 
ology into their sermons, at least, except by passing allusions. They 
too often assume — some one doctrine, or, more properly, dogma, and 
another, another, to thousands of isms, and then go on and build up 
dogma upon dogma ; the blind leading the blind into the dark laby- 
rinths of error and superstition. 

I insist upon it, that science should be taught along with religion, 
and particularly, the laws of Physiology and Phrenology. Without 
obeying the laws they unfold, it is impossible to be virtuous or happy. 
And to facilitate this obedience, let them be taught, along with our ot- 
our moral duties, which it most assuredly is, the duty of preserving 
health. Indeed, I know of no virtue, no duty, that will compare in 
point of importance with that of obeying the laws of Physiology — pre- 
serving health, prolonging life, and keeping the body in that state 
which is most promotive of virtue and enjoyment. That to be sick is 
to be sinful, and sinful in proportion as you are sick, has been demon- 
strated in my work on Education, and will be still further enforced in 
the forthcoming works on Physiology and Amativeness. I have 



221 A SHORT CATECHISM. 67 

there shown that sin is generally the product of physical disorder. 
This point I deem all-important. I shall enforce this point, also, in 
this work. At all events, I consider clergymen almost culpable for 
not preaching more Physiology and Phrenology. I would have 
them carry their manikin into the desk, in the one hand, and their 
anatomical and physiological preparations in the other, to be followed 
by herbariums, specimens of animals, of all kinds — birds, beasts, in- 
sects, fish, and the whole range of nature, animate and inanimate, 
and preach on astronomy, on electricity, on chemistry, natural history, 
&c. — on all the works of God — his noblest work of course the most 

" Oh, horrible ! Blasphemy ! What a profanation of the Sabbath, 
of the sanctuary, of things sacred, would this be!" Indeed? indeed! 
The house of God so very holy, that the works of God will profane it ? 
Very holy, that. Somewhat holier than heaven itself, I doubt not ! 
Why was not nature packed up and put out of sight every seventh 
day, lest its presence should profane the' Sabbath ? But, as I shall 
take up this matter of the Sabbath, of religious teachers, &c. hereafter, 
I dismiss it with a short catechism. 

Question. Phven. — " Well, Mr. Universalist, please take the stand, 
and tell the jury, whether you do or do not think that every orthodox 
minister in Christendom would preach more truth and less error, and 
do much more good in the world, if he should preach natural theolo- 
gy — God, as manifested in his works — than he now does by preach- 
ing orthodoxy." 

Answer. Universalist. — " Most certainly I do ; because now he is 
preaching a doctrine erroneous in itself, injurious in its tendency, de- 
rogatory to God — an outrage'^ — 

Q. P. — " That will do. Mr. Orthodox, do you not think that 
Mr. Universalist would do more good and less injury if he should 
lecture to his people on science, and especially, on science as connect- 
ed with religion, than he now does V 1 

A. O. — " Beyond all question. Then he would certainly do no 
harm. He would even dispel ignorance, and do good ; whereas now, 
he is tearing up the good old land-marks ; is a stepping stone to infi- 
delity ; is even fast ruining souls, by crying peace to the wicked 
when there is no peace. No ten infidels in this place are doing as 
much damage to the cause of virtue, and to young people in particu- 
lar, as he is doing." 

Q. P. — " And, Mr. Unitarian, what do you thiuk ? Would the 
Rev. Mr. Trinitarian do more good or evil than he now does, if he 



68 THE TRUE RELIGION AND THE FALSE. 222 

would cease preaching the peculiarity of his creed, and preach sci- 
ence and natural religion?" 

A. U. — "I think this truth is always beneficial. Error is al- 
ways pernicious. He is now preaching error, and therefore doing 
harm. Then, he would at least preach truth, and convey much valu- 
able information. Now, he is doing a positive injury to society. Then, 
he would do a positive good." 

Q. P. — " And, Mr. Trinitarian, what think you as to the preach- 
ing of the Rev. Mr. Unitarian. Would he profane the Sabbath and 
the sanctuary more or less by adopting the course under discussion ?" 

A. T. — '• Less, decidedly. I consider error to be a profanation of 
things sacred ; but truth can never profane any thing. He might 
then do some good, but now he is certainly doing immense injury to 
society. He is sowing the seeds of a fatal error, that cannot fail to 
make shipwreck of many an immortal soul. I advocate the change 
most cordially." 

Q. p.— « And, Mr. Pope, what say you?" « Say If Why, I say 
you cannot possibly profane what is not holy. Their churches" 

Q. P. — " Whose churches ?" " Why, all the ohurches — all the 
orthodox churches, (and a pretty application of names indeed, to call 
those orthodox, [?] who maintain errors as palpable, as fundamental, 
as do those to whom this title is usually applied. A rose by any 
other name would smell as sweetly — all Episcopalian churches, all 
Unitarian churches, all Methodist churches, all Baptist churches, all 
churches, of all names and kinds, not consecrated by the apostolic suc- 
cession, are no more sacred than so many old barns. To talk about 
profaning them, therefore, is to talk of spoiling rotten eggs. I consi- 
der them all heretics, enemies of ." 

That will do, Mr. Catholic. Your opinion is all we want. 

Q. P. — " Come up to the stand, all ye Protestants, in a row. All 
answer together : Do you think that Catholics would profane the 
Sabbath as much, the house of God as much, if they should carry 
their philosophical aparatus into their pulpits, and explain the laws 
and phenomena of nature ; should expound man, and tell the people 
the laws of life, health, mind, and virtue, as deduced therefrom, as 
they now do ?" 

A. All — "NO," with one loud, long, united, emphatic response, 
which makes the gates of Rome tremble, and thunders in the ears of 
the Pope and the Vatican, that they think him just about as holy [? 
as he thinks them. 



223 PULPITS WANTED TO PROPAGATE SECTARIANISM 69 

This catechism might be continued till it embraced every religious 
and anti-religious sect, and every fragment of every sect in Christen- 
dom, and in pagandom too. And, what is more, what is most, all but 
one must of course be wrong, and that one might not be right. If 
such sublime, intellectual, and moral truths as those presented in 
" Good's Book of Nature," Chalmer's work on a similar subject, 
" Combe on the Constitution of Man," " Paley : s Natural Theology," 
<&c, are not good enough for the Sabbath and the sanctuary, then 
must the latter be too good, too holy, for man, for earth ! But they 
are not. We shall soon see how holy the Sabbath is — how holy the 
churches are — and can then judge whether they are so holy that na- 
ture, pure, immaculate, God-made Nature, will profane them. The 
plain English of this whole matter is simply this : Our Sabbaths, and 
our pulpits, are wanted for another and a meaner purpose than to pre- 
sent the sublime principles of natural religion. They are wanted as 
party religico-hacks, to be mounted and rode to death, for the exclu- 
sive purpose of propagating those particular religious tenets that built 
them up. Every Unitarian pulpit is wanted to propagate Unitarian- 
ism. Every Calvinistic pulpit, is plied to its utmost to defend and 
extend Calvinism. Every Methodist pulpit, is wanted exclusively to 
propagate the faith delivered to the saints by John Wesley. So of 
Universalists. So of all those even who pretend to be liberal. Nor 
do I remember ever to have heard a single sermon from any sectarian 
pulpit — that is, in any pulpit ; for, where is the pulpit that is not a 
sectarian pulpit, except where a church is owned by all in common, 
and is therefore dressed out in orthodoxy one Sabbath, in Universal- 
lsm the next, in Trinitarianism the next, &c. — the nub or butt-end, 
drift, and texture of which did not consist of the particular tenets of the 
sect that owned the pulpit. Or, if some of the " Evangelicals" ex- 
change, those points are urged which are held in common by both 
sects. Indeed, this is the object of sectarian pulpits and sectarian 
churches — an object so much more " holy," and " sacred," and " so- 
lemn," than the preaching of God in his works, that the latter actually 
profane the former. The holiness of heaven itself is but as a flicker- 
ing rush-light, compared with the transcendantly dazzling glorifica- 
tion of sectarian pulpits ! 

Irony aside. The moral sentiments themselves are stone blind, 
mere impulses, and as capable of receiving a bad direction as a good 
one. We have already seen, that they combine with the other organs 
that are the largest. If, therefore, they do not combine with intellect, 
they must of course combine with the propensities. It cannot be oth- 



70 THE MORAL SENTIMENTS REQUIRE INTELLECTUAL GUIDANCE. 224 

erwise. And when they thus combine, we have a religion of entire 
animal propensity. When, as in the ancients, they combine with 
amativeness, we have a religion made up, in warp and woof, of public, 
shameless, unbridled prostitution, to the temples of which crowds of 
worshippers throng, of both sexes, and all ages ; each more eager 
than the other in the unblushing indulgenee of unhallowed lust, he 
or she being the most pious who indulge the most in venerial inter- 
course. Combining with appetite, and unguided by intellect, they 
make a religion of their bachanalian revels, he being the most reli- 
gious who can drink and carouse most. Combining with secretive- 
ness and acquisitiveness, they make religion to consist in stealing, and 
lying, and knavery. Combining with cautiousness, and ungoverned 
by intellect,, they look upon God with dread, and trembling fear, in- 
stead of with love, and offer sacrifices to appease the wrath of offended 
Deity — a species of animal religion, not entirely unknown to some of 
the pious of the present day. And so of its other animal combinations. 
Look at the animal religion of the ignorant, superstitious negro of 
southern slavery. His intellect untrained. His prayers perfect blas- 
phemy. His preaching — look, ye who can look, at the negro's reli- 
gion. And all, because he cannot, must not, read ; cannot, must not, 
think ; and hence, by a necessary consequence, that combination of 
veneration with the propensities which produces his heathenish no- 
tions of religion. And all solely because he has no intellect, to ele- 
vate, and enlighten, and direct his blind religious impulses. I wish 
to be fully understood. I say, in broad, unequivocal terms, that the 
moral sentiments, to be productive of good, and not to be the worst 
engines of depravity extant, must in all cases, be enlightened, and 
guided by intellect, by science, by reason, by knowledge. And, sure- 
ly, no species of knowledge — neither political knowledge, nor novel 
knowledge, nor polite literature knowledge, nor any other form of 
knowledge — will sanctify and direct the moral sentiments as effectu- 
ally as will a knowledge of Nature, so presented as to teach us God, 
his character, his laws, his government — man's duty. I say, in the 
name of this incontrovertible principle, that we cannot have a religion 
" pure and undefiled," without basing it in natural science, and mak- 
ing it consist of natural theology. No other views of religion can be 
correct. No other can make man better. All others render him 
blind, bigoted, sinful, miserable. They satisfy the religious sentiment, 
without improving the morals, or seasoning the conduct. 

And now, intelligent reader, let us test the religion of the day, by this 
fully establiehed law of Phrenology and of mind. Does the religion 



225 . MODERN RELIGION TESTED BY THIS PRINCIPLE. 71 

of the day call out and expand the intellects of men? Does it impart 
knowledge, particularly the knowledge already shown to be needed 
by the moral sentiments — a knowledge of nature ? No ; not at all. 
As mute as a mole on all matters of science. And I always find ten 
times more difficulty in getting religionists, particularly old-fashioned, 
old-school Baptists and Presbyterians, to look at Phrenology, than I 
do to get all the world besides to examine it. I find, that where reli- 
gion reigns with the most complete sway, there Phrenology is inter- 
dicted ; Physiology, excluded ; Geology, rejected ; and the other na- 
tural sciences are uncultivated ! The new-school men, of all denomi- 
nations, and reformers of all kinds, go in, heart and soul, for Phreno- 
logy ; but deacons — and these furnish a better test than clergymen — 
and the leaders m our churches — as well as the ladies of church ton — 
I submit to the reader, where, in the ranks of science, are they to be 
found? Last, always. And not at all, till popularity compels their 
tacit ascent. I submit, who, but clergymen, and those, too, made up 
of doubled-and-twisted orthodoxy, have ever raised a dissenting voice 
against Geology ? Who imprisoned Gallileo ? Who are the most 
illiberal, the most bigoted, narrow-minded, anti-scientific men of any 
and every community ? And, per»contra, who are the most scientific ? 
Who patronize scientific lectures most ? Who are the most liberal- 
minded ? The most candid inquirers after truths as well as its most 
cordial devotees ? I leave the fact to answer. I leave this principle 
to draw the inference. I leave the two united, to say, whether men 
are rendered more wise, or more ignorant, (that is, the better or the 
worse,) by the religion that is. If that religion advances science, it 
makes men's moral faculties expand more generally and powerfully 
than they otherwise would, with the intellectual — which, as just seen, 
sanctifies the moral, and alone prevents their doing injury. But, if it 
retard the progress of science (which is, beyond all question, the fact,) 
it is a damage to mankind.' 'Nothing can be more injurious. And no- 
thing more beneficial than that which cultivates the intellectual facul- 
ties, in connexion with the moral. 

Another test of the anti-scientific spirit of the religion of the day, 
and of course, proof that it is injurious, is to be found in the refusal of 
the great majority to allow their churches to be used for scientific lec- 
tures. These churches might be, ought to be, the promoters of science, 
by offering those facilities which their spacious walls, comfortable 
pews, and central locations, always and every where might afford for 
lectures on scienee — particularly the science of man. But, the blue- 
stocking orthodoxy utterly refuse their houses to all and every thing, 



72 OBJECTION THAT RELIGIONISTS REASON. , 226 

except the promulgation of their contracted tenets. Andover religion 
would not open her doors to lectures on Phrenology. Hence, other 
denominations, who otherwise would open their churches, follow 
suit, in order to keep up the dignity of the house of God, till even 
Unitarians and Universalists, who claim to be liberal, also lock all 
but Universalism and Unitarianism out of their houses. And yet, 
they claim to be liberal I Away with professions without practice ! 
It is in your power, if you would but improve the noble opportunity 
offered, to steal the march on bigotry and intolerance, to show your 
liberality, and thus commend your sect, by opening your doors to the 
cause of science, and even faying something as societies, to promote 
the cause of science. But, suit yourselves. Pursue the illiberal 
course, and it will ruin you. Pursue the liberal policy, and it will 
save you. The views here presented, will prevail. Oppose them, 
and you die. Science asks no odds at your hands. Take care of 
yourselves. That is all. That is quite enough for you. 

I ought here to state unequivocally, that I find clergymen much in 
advance of the deacons, and those church aristocrats who govern 
both priest and people. I also find that those called " new school,' 
men of each of the sects, particularly of the orthodox, generally take 
liberal views of things, are generally ready to open their churches, 
and are decided advocates of Physiology, Phrenology, Magnetism, &c. 
This is right. They are the salt of the churches. God grant that 
they may go on to banish bigotry and invite science into the sanc- 
tuary, and thus purify the religion of the day from the dross, the in- 
tolerance, the ignorance of the dark ages, and of the present age, and 
bring intellect into delightful action with the moral sentiments. 

" But," says an advocate of the religions that be, " does not much 
of the preaching of the day,- particularly orthodox preaching, employ 
reason, and appeal to reason ? Where do you find more logic, more 
of consecutive argumentation than is found in much of the preaching 
of the day?" 

Theorizing, you mean. I grant that they employ a show of reason 
— a mushroon, spurious, deceptive species of reasoning, but it is a spe- 
cies of reasoning that proves and disproves any thing and every thing. 
It proves orthodoxy, and the decrees, and partial salvation, and the 
trinity, to a perfect demonstration, while it is at the same instant, in a 
pulpit over the way there, engaged in disproving these very doctrines, 
and proving their opposites. In one pulpit, it proves most conclu- 
sively the final perseverance of the saints, and in the next pulpit, is 



227 DRESSING ON THE SABBATH. 73 

disproving this doctrine, and proves* that it is possible, to fall from 
grace. Indeed, that there is great danger of it. In a Methodist 
pulpit, it reasons out to a demonstration, that Armenianism is the true 
doctrine of the " word of God," while in an orthodox pulpit, it is 
proved quite as logically and incontestibly, that the opposite doctrines 
of rigid Calvinism are true. In a Trinitarian pulpit, the divinity of 
Christ is proved to be bible, to be reason. In a Unitarian pulpit, the 
same doctrine is overthrown — shown to be anti-reason, anti-bible — and 
its opposite doctrine established as truth. So of the peculiarities of 
all other creeds. I submit to one, to all of the believers of these doc- 
trines, whether ministers do not each reason out their peculiar tenets 
logically, and forcibly, and also show by jreason the absurdity of the 
doctrines opposed thereto 1 I ask Trinitarians if they do not think 
their ministers reason out the three-fold nature of the Godhead as 
clearly and cogently as Unitarians think their ministers reason out 
their opposite doctrine ? So of each sect, as to its peculiar tenets. And 
yet the fact, that truth always harmonizes with truth, and reason with 
reason, renders it self-evident and certain that most of their reasoning 
is spurious. They do not reason. They simply theorize. They 
give a therefore without a wherefore. They reason through colored 
glasses. Diversities in their religious and other organs, warp intellect, 
and render their reasoning unreasonable. 

My conscience constrains me here to censure, what I wish I could 
let pass in silence. I refer to the gay, dressy religion of the age. If 
dress had no moral character, or were harmless in its effects, most 
gladly would I say nothing about it. But, it is not so. It is most 
pernicious. Scarcely any thing is more so. To two points, illustra- 
tive of its evils, allow me to advert. First, to the amount of extra 
sewing required thereby, and to the deleterious influence of so much 
sewing on the female constitution, and thereby on the race. I do feel 
that a vast many of our blooming daughters, first lose their health and 
are rendered miserable for life by sitting and sewing so steadily. I 
call attention to this point. Ye who regard suicide as sinful, open 
your eyes, I beseech you, to this lamentable subject. If our fabrics 
were made strong, and a uniform fashion prevailed, I venture to affirm 

* I use the word proving here and occasionally elsewhere, not by any means 
in its true sense, but ironically. This is so palpable, that the reader hardly re- 
quires to be put on his guard by this note. I generally use words in their true 
6ense; always, indeed, except where the subject itself cannot fail to give them 
the signification intended. To save circumlocution, I generally use the word 
orthodox, however, in its popular, generally received sense, rather than in its 
true sense. 



74 DRESSING ON THE SABBATH. 228 

that at the lowest estimation, nine-tenths of the sewing now performed., 
might be avoided, and men and women be just as comfortable as now, 
and infinitely more happy than following these fashions can possibly 
render them. 

Secondly: Look, and weep, in view of the vast sacrifice of life and 
virtue, caused by tight-lacing. I will not enlarge. Nearly half of 
the deaths of women and children, are caused by this accursed fashion, 
besides an amount and aggravation of misery which no tongue can 
tell, no finite mind conceive. 

" And what has religion to do with this, or this to do with religion?" 
says one. A story. In making a recent Phrenological examination 
of a woman, I saw and told her that she had almost ruined both body 
and mind by tight-lacing. She answered, that she never laced more 
than one day in the week. Reader, what day do you suppose that 
one was ? In what one day of the week is committed more suicidal 
and infanticidal corsetting, than in all the other six, and that by hun- 
dreds to one ? And yet ministers administer the sacrament to wo- 
men by thousands, while in the very act of committing both suicide 
and infanticide. I pity clergymen. An excellent class of men. taken 
by and large. They would fain do their duty, and speak out. But 
the daughter of the rich church-member mentioned above, exercises 
her pious Approbativeness, by attending church richly dressed and 
tightly corsetted, in order to be the ton of the meeting. Let the cler- 
gyman open his mouth against this life-destroying sin if he dare, and 
he will get his walking papers pretty soon. Sometimes ministers defy 
consequences, but alas, what can they do ? A living they must have, 
and they yield to stern necessity. They put on the shackles, and bow 
their knees. But, ye ministers of God and of truth, I submit whether 
it is right thus to let this crying sin pass unrebuked 1 Starve if you 
must, but tell the truth ; " whether they will hear, or whether they 
will forbear." Be no longer " dead dogs" in reference to this subject 
of life and death. Your silence gives consent. Bond yourselves to- 
gether, and you can rid our land, our world, of a far greater sin than 
intemperance is or ever was. If you do not know both its evils 
and their extent, it is high time for you to learn them. If you 
do know them, but dare not, or do not, sound the alarm, aban- 
don your calling. Yield your post to those who will not let a sin as 
glaring as this go unrebuked. Do your duty. Imploring millions 
yet unborn, say, do your duty. 

But, I have not yet lashed this lacing and these fashions on where 
they belong. They go along with, they are propagated by, religious 



229 THE IMFLUENCE OF FASHION. 75 

meetings, particularly on the sabbath. Where do those who wish to 
learn the fashions as soon as they are out, go ? To church, of course. 
Nor need they go any where else. Neither the ball-room nor the 
theatre, nor the social party, get the fashions as soon, or propagate 
them a hundreth part as effectually, as do our religious meetings on 
the sabbath. I am plain to declare, what every mind of common in- 
telligence will admit, that if I wished to amass a fortune by the popu- 
larity of some fashion, even though it might be pernicious, I would 
not attempt to introduce it into the ball-room or theatre, but if I could 
introduce it among the ton of some D. D.'s church, in some populous 
city, my end would be attained, for then all the other dressingly religious 
maids and matrons must also have it, both in that church, and in all 
the churches of the land. And if they have it, surely those who do 
not profess religion must also have it. Besides, who does not know, 
that unless a woman dresses well at church, she loses caste. And, I 
submit to any candid observer of the facts of the case, whether nine- 
tenths of those women who labor for wages, do not spend nine-tenths of 
these scanty earnings, for something " descent," (that is, fashionable,) 
with which to appear in church on the sabbath. Nearly every new 
coat, new hat, new bonnet, new dress, new fashion, new every thing, 
goes to church first — goes to church mainly. And sometimes the piti- 
ful wages paid to our laboring women, do not allow them to get as 
many " decent" things as fashion requires, with which to go to meet- 
ing on Sunday ; and, not having fathers or brothers on whom to rely for 
" pin-meney," much as they love virtue, much as they abhor moral 
pollution, bedeck their persons on the sabbath with the wages of sin ! 
If even religion did not compel them to dress, they had retained their 
virtue ; and I verily believe more than half of the prostitution of the 
land, private as well as public, is chargeable to the sabbath dressing 
sanctioned, aye, even demanded, by the religion of the day. But not 
by the religion of Jesus Christ. He no where requires his- followers 
to wear bustles, or corsets, or fashionable attire. He dressed in swad 
dling clothes. He loves you none the better, ye painted, padded, bus- 
tled, ribboned, milliner-made Z&d^-christians, because you go up to the 
sanctuary attired in the latest fashions, with your gilt-edged prayer- 
book or Bible in hand, &c. — in that nipping, swinging, artificial walk, 
and affected manners — the natural language of self-esteem and Ap- 
probativeness. Indeed, such he does not love at all. Ye cannot 
serve two masters. If ye will dress fashionably, ye cannot be the 
disciples of the meek and lowly Jesus. 
6 



76 THE INTELLECTUAL AND MORAL FACULTIES SHOULD GOVERN. 230 

Methodists ! I have one word to say to you. Ye did run well. 
What hath hindered you ? Ye once interdicted church fellowship to 
the daughters of fashion. But u ye have fallen from grace. Have 
glided along down that swift current of fashion which is sweeping 
away all that is pure and lovely in the religion of the Bible, of the 
cross. Watchmen ! to your posts. Sound the alarm ! 

If any reader suspects that I have chained the fashions on to the car 
of religion a little more closely than truth will warrant, I defend, I 
even advance, my position, by calling your attention to Saturday af- 
ternoon and evening ; and bring shop-keepers, milliners, seamstresses, 
&c, as my witnesses. These things speak volumes. They tell 3 
tale which religion should blush to hear. 

It remains to add, that thus the exalted heavenly emotions of Vene- 
ration, are not enhancsd, but grievously retarded by this parasite of 
approbativeness. It is that _pro;?<ms^-religion, all along shown to be 
so injurious in its effects, and so unholy in its exercise. True, it is 
not quite as low as the licentious worship of Venus, the revelling wor- 
ship of a Bacchus, or the murderous worship of a Mars, of the an- 
cients ; because Veneration now combines with organs a little higher 
in the head, and less animal in character, than with them. Still, it is 
animal religion yet. It is not the religion of either enlightened intel- 
lect or high moral sentiment. It is in the teeth of the nature of man, 
and of the requirements of Phrenology. 

I might say more. I may rue my having said so much. Be it so. 
But it is true — only that " the half is not told." 

From these few applications of this great principle, that correct re- 
ligious doctrines and practices involve the combined and harmonious 
action of all the faculties, with the moral and intellectual in the ascen- 
dency, the reader will see its sweep, its power. That it forms a cor- 
rect test and touchstone of true and false religion, cannot be doubted. 
That it criticises effectually much that now passes for religion, is self- 
evident. That these few are but the beginnings of its application, is 
also apparent. Still, as these applications will be rendered much more 
clear, general, and powerful after we have analyzed a few more of the 
moral faculties, and demonstrated a few more fundamental principles, 
we postpone them for the present. Perhaps entirely ; for two reasons ; 
first, the reader can apply them — cannot help applying them for him- 
self; and secondly, the task is most painful thus to criticise what so 
many good people hold as so sacred. 



231 THE SABBATH. 77 

SECTION III. 

THE SABBATH. 

Having- proved the existence of a God, and the duty of man to wor- 
ship him, and laid open the great principle, by applying which we 
may form correct views of the character, attributes, and worship of 
God ; the inquiry comes home with great force, " What in regard to 
the sabbath? What says the nature of man touching this religious 
institution ? Does Phrenology recognize any sabbath ? If so, which ? 
The Jewish, or the Christian 1 Does the nature of man set apart, or 
require to be set apart, any portion of time for religious worship % If 
so, what portion ? 

Phrenology answers this question thus : " Man, worship thy God. 
Worship daily. Worship habitually. Exercise thy religious feel- 
ings, not by fits and starts, not at given times and seasons, but continu- 
ally. Make this worship a part and parcel of thy daily avocations, or, 
rather, pleasures." It saith, " Arise, thee, in the morning betimes, and 
as the glorious sun is lighting up and animating all nature with his 
presence, do thou pour forth thy heart in praise and adoration to the 
Maker of the sun, and to the Author of all those beauties that surround 
thee. And when the setting sun is shedding on delighted earth his 
last rays of glory for the day, and spreading his golden hues over na- 
ture, to wrap her in the mantle of night, do thou offer thy evening 
orisons of thanksgiving for the mercies of the day, and supplicate pro- 
tection for the night." Instead of spending all thy energies in amass- 
ing wealth, or in pursuing merely animal, worldly objects, Phrenology 
saith, " Take a little time to feed thy immortal soul." Phrenology 
says, thou mayest go to church if thou pleasest, or not go if thou ob- 
jectest. It says, that place and mode are nothing ; that the worship is 
the main thing. We should think as much of thus feasting our im- 
mortal souls with thoughts of God and heaven, as of feeding our frail 
bodies with our daily bread. Should exercise worship as often and 
as much as we exercise appetite or vision. Should take time — should 
make a business of one as much as of the other. I enjoy neither food, 
nor sleep, nor life itself, more than I enjoy this communion with my 
God. I look upon these seasons as the brightest spots upon the page 
of life. The most pleasurable. The most profitable. 

5. At least, it is lawful to walk abroad in the fields on the sabbath, 
enjoy the fresh breezes, and pick and eat fruit, and what we like. 
This shutting ourselves up in-doors, is positively wrong. It dixr.in- 



232 NO SABBATH ACCORDING TO PHRENOLOGY. 78 

ishes circulation, and this deadens the action of the brain and nervous 
system, and, by consequence, of the mind and religious feelings. In 
order that the worshipping feeling should be most active, the body also 
must be in motion. This is founded clearly in a physiological prin- 
ciple. It is as necessary that we take exercise on the sabbath as 
that we eat. If the day be indeed so very holy, why are not all the 
physiological laws suspended on that day? If the day is too holy in 
which to take exercise, it is, of course, too holy in which to eat, or 
breathe, or live. Why does not the heart stop its wanted pulsations 
the moment Sunday begins, and resume them the instant it terminates ? 
For, if it be right to eat or breath on the sabbath it is equally, and for 
precisely the same reason, right that we exercise, recreate, pick flowers 
and fruits, enjoy nature, enjoy life. 

Besides, this enormous stuffing on the sabbath, is ruinous alike 
to the religious sentiment, to the whole mind. Baked beans and 
pork, the most indigestible of all things, is the Yankee dish for a sun- 
day dinner as sure as sunday comes. Precious little piety, at least, 
in pork. Above all things, children should not be confined on the 
sabbath, nor on any day. The law of their nature that demands phy- 
sical exercise almost constantly during the waking hours of childhood 
and youth, is imperious, inexorable, even on the sabbath, and must 
not be violated. Cannot be, with impunity, 

" Oh, but," says one, " let us at least have a sabbath as a day of rest 
from the toils and burdens of the week. As a civil institution, it has 
no parallel in value. Our horses and servants need rest. We all 
require one day to clean up, refresh our weary bodies, banish the cares 
and vexations of business, and place our distracted minds on heaven 
and heavenly things." I. know, indeed, that if men will work too hard 
one day, they require to rest the next. Not so if they do not over da 
Indeed, perfect health requires a given, equal amount of labor daily. 
So, if a man will eat too much, he will be benefitted by fasting. Not, 
however, when he has eaten just enough. If you will not work your 
beasts too much week days, they will need no rest Sundays. If you 
do not follow the world too closely six days in the week, you will 
not feel the need of resting from it on the seventh, but will be the bet- 
ter for not resting. So, if you will exercise Veneration sufficiently 
during the week,' you will need no sabbath to increase its energies. 
Live just as you ought to during the week, and you will require to 
live just the same on the sabbath. I might enforce this point, by al- 
luding to the force of habit, but, as habit only requires the applica- 



79 REVIVALS OF RELIGION. 233 

tion of that same great law of proportionate action already pointed out, 
and is therefore already embraced in effect, enlargement is hardly 
necessary. 



SECTION IV. 



REVIVALS OF RELIGION. 



Governed by the same principles, and so nearly related as to de- 
serve notice in the same connexion with the sabbath, is the doctrine 
of "revivals" Phrenology discards them entirely. First, on the fun- 
damental principle of Phrenology, and the great law of mind already 
brought to bear on the Sabbath, (namely, that uniformity, proportion- 
ate action, is the great law of perfection,) revivals are to the mind 
what artificial stimulants are to the body. They elate only propor- 
tionably to depress, it is a law of mind, that extreme action induces 
the opposite extreme. Now, if it be desireable to render our religion 
purely periodical — the ebbing and flowing tide, or the mountain torrent 
-—rather than the quiet, steady, stern, then get up revivals. But, 
we have shown, that these extremes violate a law of mind, and that a 
most important one. " To the law and to the testimony" of man's 
nature, I submit this point, as also the kindred one, touching sudden 
convictions. Quick convertions, on the principle that " the hottest love 
is soonest cold," is like a fire made of shavings, blazes, and scorches, 
and dies, leaving no valuable influences behind. To be productive of 
permanent good the moral organs must be exercised habitually. No- 
thing but continual, long continued exercise, can essentially either 
promote the growth of the organs, or improve the tone and vigor of 
the facilities. Let this great truth, elsewhere demonstrated, (that all 
improvement of the faculties must be brought about by improving 
their organs,) be borne constantly in mind, and also that this improve- 
ment can be effected only by a perpetual exercise of both faculty and 
organ. Fitful action will not, cannot do this. Permanent action 
alone can do it. This doctrine is opposed to revivals. That is, the 
revival principle. 

Besides : These revivals are sometimes got up ; and, indeed, I 
speak the sentiments of all their advocates, when I say that they are 
always got up by means of protracted meetings, powerful appeals, &c. - 
I know something about this, for I have got up revivals and religious 



234 EVILS OF PERIODICAL RELIGION. 80 

excitements myself. I say, then, without any fear of contradiction, 
that religious excitements are produced just as we produce impressions 
or excitements about Physiology, Magnetism, Singing, Temperance, 
&c. They are induced by their own apptopriate means, just as any 
and every thing else in the physical and the moral world. The 
means used bring them to their crisis sooner, or protract them longer, 
according to the nature of the means used. I advocate, then, that 
they be protracted so as to have a permanent revival. I do not object 
to revivals, as creating too muck religious feeling. I would have as 
much religion always as there is in any revival, divested, perhaps, of 
some extraneous matter. But I uncompromisingly oppose periodical 
religion ; or, rather, annual religion ; for, revival matters are so man- 
aged as to " get up" revivals at stated seasons of the year. It will not 
take much of the spirit of prophecy to foretell, that about next January 
revival meetings and efforts will begin to multiply, and begin to pro- 
duce copious showers of "Divine grace" by February, only to be 
completely dissipated by April. 

But, why do April showers, perhaps the chilly winds of March, 
dissipate or supersede the showers of Divine grace ? Because revivals 
must give way to business. January brings leisure to merchants, 
tradesmen, &c, to get up revivals till the money-making season again 
returns. I submit, to Christian and to all, if this periodicity of revi- 
vals, and at such times and seasons, too, does not tell a story touching 
revivals that should make those blush whom it may concern. 

Let me not, by any means, be understood to speak against man's 
exercising the religious feeling. So far from it, I would advocate our 
exercising the religious sentiments more all the time, than they are 
now exercised even in revivals. But, I would "not have these exer- 
cises fitful, but perennial. The day of Pentecost should have lasted 
till now, and even swept down the vista of all coming time, till the 
last human being gave up the ghost. The principles advocated in 
this essay, show that religion should be the paramount feeling, pur- 
suit, occupation, of man, and not a winter's coat, that he can put on 
when he cannot make money, only to be put off when he can. Mo- 
ney should be the one to give place to religion, and not religion to 
money-making. And this subjecting the " Spirit of God," as revival 
influences are called, to the worldly spirit, tells a deep, dark story on 
the religion of the day — tells it that it is both animal, and secondary at 
that, while it should be primary, and in-wrought into the very texture 
of all we do, say, feel. This is the revival doctrine and spirit of 
Phrenology, and of the nature of man, if not of the pages of the Bible. 



gl REVIVALS GOT UP. 235 

Indeed, I am fully persuaded, that the Bible does not inculcate, does 
not even sanction the revival spirit, or measures, or converts, of the 
day. For, those that are converted by impulse, must, by a law of 
mind, be impulsive, periodical Christians, and therefore disqualified 
to enjoy constant, permanent religion, as well as to shine as a steady 
Christian light upon the sinful darkness of the surrounding world. 

But, if others entertain other views, let them. Let those cultivate 
annual religion who have no better religioa. But, let me live near to 
my God always. Let me pray ivithout ceasing. Like Blackhawk, 
let me never take the refreshing draft from the bubbling spring, with- 
out offering up thanksgiving and praise to the Author of all good. 
Let me be as religious in August as in February. Let my religion 
not be the changeable garment ; but, let it be in me, and form the 
major part of me. No annual piety. No weekly, Sunday piety, 
even. But daily, and hourly, and constantly, may my soul hold 
sweet communion with the God of nature. And I am persuaded, 
that these views will accord with both the intellect and the better feel- 
ings of those who have either. At least, I shall not concern myself 
with those who differ from me ; for the very good reason, that I consi- 
der them in error. 

I know that I have now touched two of the four tender places of the 
religion of the day — the Sabbath, and Revivals. I know that I shall 
excite against me the proscriptive spirit* of the religion of the age. 
Be it so. I stand where even their anathemas, (I know they are 
more powerful, more unrelenting than the anathemas, the proscrip- 
tions, the tyrany, of any thing else in this world,) cannot essentially 
harm me. The truth of Phrenology is above their reach. So is my 
professional reputation. If they say I do not understand my business? 
the spontaneous voice of the entire community will give them the lie, 
and react against them, not me. So that if they commend, or if they 
condemn, my patrimony is beyond their reach. I fear them not. 
Why, then, should I turn aside for them, or even bow and scrape to 
curry their favor. I have more business on hand constantly than ten 
men can execute. So that, if they even do operate against me, they 
cannot hurt me. My bread and butter is beyond their reach. Let 
them do their worst. I bow not. I ask no favors. I grant none. 

* There is no better proof that the religion of the day is no better than it 
ought to be, than the way it treats its opposers. When one cheek is smitten, 
it does not turn the other also. It proscribes, anathamizes, aye, even 'punishes 
And punishes, too, those who are sincere in^ their belief. But I may take up 
this point separately. 



236 APOLOGY FOR TELLING THE TRUTH. 82 

And, oh ! if I ever thanked my God for any thing, it is that I stand 
in a position where I can tell the truth, and defy the consequences. 
It is awful, to have truth struggling within one's soul, reel and rum- 
bling like the earth, when its pent-up fires are seeking vent. I appeal 
to ministers, who ache to tell truths which they know will cost them 
their salaries. But, it is glorious to be able to utter truth, in all its 
dignity, in all its power. To see it cut its own way, and prostrate 
whatever opposes it To see it make those in error wince and writhe 
under its folds, only to be overcome and prostrated by their own vain 
struggles. To see the human mind delivered from those thraldoms 
by which it has been spell-bound, and come out free as air into the 
glorious liberty of the sons of truth. To see error and misery sup- 
planted by virtue and happiness. To see thirsty souls drink in truth, 
and be refreshed, and to be re-invigorated, and become regenerated 
thereby. That glory, I enjoy. I glory in the mere utterance of 
truth. I glory in being the instrument of good to man thereby. I 
glory in not being obliged to truckle even to religious bigotry and ty- 
ranny, the worst form of tyranny, proscription, intolerance on our globe. 
Even it, cannot harm me. I snufTthe wind of its threats in my nostrils, 
and sing, aha, aha ! And I tell all whom it may concern, that I ask 
no odds of any one. I have got the American ear; the confidence 
of Americans. And I shall use that confidence without abusing it ; 
and so as even to increase it. It cannot be taken from me. There is 
a power in TRUTH which will make ten friends to one enemy. I 
can live without ever making another cent. I can satisfy my con- 
science, by telling the whole truth, and am able to father its conse- 
quences. So, reader, you may hear or forbear. You may laud or 
cavil. What you say and do for or against these things, will react 
on you for good or for evil. Better take it kindly, then, and profit by 
the lessons it teaches. 

Hence, when I come to the other two places — (corns ! on the feet 
of modern Religion, that make her limp and hobble along) — I shall 
tread on them just as though they were not there. Temporize, I need 
not. Suppress truth, 1 will not. So that the reader may calculate on 
straight-forward, thorough work. 



83 RELIGIOUS TEACHERS USEFUL. 237 

SECTION V, 

RELIGIOUS TEACHERS, OR PREACHERS, 



Since it is beneficial, necessary, for man to be religious, the question 
recurs on the expediency of having religious teachers, preachers, &c. 
Phrenology, I thing,, favors the existence of this profession. Man is 
capable of being influenced by his fellow men. Hence, those who 
are truly religious, are capable of infusing the religious spirit into their 
fellow men. Still, that profession, as now conducted, is sadly faulty, 
and comes far short of effecting the good it is capable of accom- 
plishing. Ministers are able to do immense good, but they not un- 
frequently wield their tremendous influence to the injury of mankind- 
How often do they become dogs in the manger, neither eating the hay 
of science themselves, nor letting those under their influence eat it. 
This is strikingly true, in regard to Phrenology. And, indeed, not 
unfrequently in regard to other great reforms in mankind. Their in- 
fluence is entirely too conservative. They hold society back from 
effecting those changes that are evidently beneficial to society. As a 
class, they hang on too tenaciously to the old ways, and set their faces 
against Phrenology, Magnetism, Science, Geology included, &c. &c. 
and thus greatly retard human improvement, whereas they should 
be the first to descry improvements, and urge their adoption. 

A single illustration : Let there be one stiff, hard-headed orthodox 
in any place, and he will be the nucleus around which all the anti-re- 
form influence of the place will gather; and will make many bigoted 
who would otherwise take liberal views of subjects. A D. D., cler- 
gyman in a certain old-fashioned town in New England, is a cordial, 
whole-souled opponent of Phrenology, and censures severely some of 
his family who have been compelled to believe it ; besides keeping 
it out of other ministers' churches, who, but that he is a leader or ex- 
ampler among them, would favor it, and open their churches for lec- 
tures, &c. But they must keep up their dignity by doing as he does ; 
thus employing the same principle of augmentation mentioned on p. 
71, to appertain to the opening of churches. 

And then there is something radically wrong in their education. 
They are educated to be sectarian, and they are sectarian — the main 
propagators of sectarian influences. I confess, I have no faith what- 
ever in the present method of manufacturing ministers. They are 



84 EDUEATION OF MINISTETS. 238 

made to order as a tailor would make a coat. They must all go 
through certain mills, called the Academy, the College, the Seminary, 
and he ground out, all ready for taking holy orders, and cooking up 
sectarian sermons. They must know nothing of Physiology. Oh, no; 
they have other more important things to which to attend. They 
come out of College, the Seminary, and all, ignorant of nearly every 
law of health, and generally with impaired constitutions ; and, often, 
soon become confirmed invalids, and die young. They do not even 
know, that to preserve the health is a moral duty ; or even that life and 
health can be preserved. They even generally think that sick- 
ness and premature death are providential, and not the products of 
causation. And if, perchance, some of them do find out that to be 
sick is to be sinful, they must not preach on health, its duty, or its con- 
ditions, but must preach sectarianism. The palpable ignorance, or 
else culpable neglect of both Physiology and Phrenology, is the 
main fault I have to find with them. As a class, they are excellent, 
moral men. They mean better than they do. They have been look- 
ing at kais gars, &c. till they have contracted the scope of their in- 
tellectual vision into the arena of their own sectarian dogmas, and there 
they stay. Still, as a class, their motives are as good as those of any 
other class. They do as well as they know how. I pity their ignor- 
ance and contraction more than blame their motives. I say ignorance. 
Not of sectarianism. Not of Theological lore. Not of old-fash- 
ioned science, " falsely so call." But of that practical knowledge of 
men and things, and plain common sense, which constitutes the basis 
of all true knowledge. Of mind, its laws, its elements, and the means of 
operating on it, they know very little, and most of that little they need 
to unlearn. To be good ministers, it is necessary that they all be good 
Phrenologists. Then will they understand the human mind, and 
how to operate on it. And I tell Clergymen that they can turn tneir 
attention to no branch of study that will equally fit them for the station 
they occupy. 

* It is customary for the professors at Andover to let their chapels to such 
lectures as they think it proper for their unfledged ministers to attend. I ac- 
cordingly applied for it, in which to lecture on Phrenology and Physiology, and 
their bearings. My application was brought forward at a regular meeting of the 
faculty, and negatived. The answer returned was, that the attention of the 
students was pre-occupied with other more important matters. This refusal was 
tantamout to a public condemnation of Phrenology. So much Andover knows 



239 DEPENDENCE OF MINISTERS. 85 

I repeat : They are generally honest, sincere, well-meaning men, 
and most of their faults are faults of education, (or rather, the want of 
it,) not of motives. I am far from joining in the general tirade 
against ministers, or trumpeting their faults. Faults they certainly 
have. But they are faults that grow out of their habits, and the 
temptations to which they are exposed. 

The second fault of ministers, is that they do not labor sufficiently 
either for health, or talent, or moral feeling. They are feasted to death, 
because they eat much from home, and must live on the fat of the land ; 
every table to which they are set being loaded with the good things. 
Then they write and preach too much, and allow themselves very little 
time for recreation or exercise. Every minister ought to have several 
acres of land, and to work enough on it to raise most of the eatables 
for his family. This, besides vastly improving his health, and, conse- 
quently, his talents, will render him more independent than he now 
is. I do say, that no religious teacher should depend on his preach- 
ing for his living, for two reasons : — 

First : It renders them more mercenary than is consistent with their 
station — hirelings, that preach for wages. How can this help season- 
ing their preaching, and making them have an eye to higher salaries ? 

But the main reason is, that it incapacitates them for telling the truth. 
And hence, though consicous that certain unpopular doctrines are 
true, and ought to be preached, they yet keep one eye upon the 
loaves and fishes. It cannot be otherwise. This makes them 
temporize with the sins of the rich men of their parish, or with the 
sins of their wives, or sons, or daughters, so as to augment their own 
salaries. Let those who are so disposed, give. But let the minister be 
able to support himself, if he must, so that he may be free and bold to 
declare the whole truth, without fear or favor. 

I would also have them mingle somewhat more with their flock 
and be more familiar with them, and talk religion, and live religion? 
to them daily. Having these set seasons for religion is not the thing. 
It renders it formal. " Besides, we require to have our religious feel- 
ings kept perpetually in action ; and these organs can be operated 
upon only as can all the others, namely, by presenting * their appro- 
priate food, daily, hourly. And, particulary, by living religion. I 
confess, the Quaker notions as to ministers, come nearer to the doc- 
trines of Phrenology, in this respect, than any others. 

One thing more: Preachers of morals should also be teachers of 
science. Religion and science ought never to be separated. They 
are twin sisters. Their organs occupy contiguous portions of the head. 



86 MINISTERS SHOULD MINGLE MORE WITH THEIR FLOCK. 249 

Their functions naturally blend, and excite each other. I have de- 
monstrated the principle which settles this matter. All their hom- 
ilies should be based in science, and mixed through science, and all 
science should be accompanied with religion. Thus says Phenology. 
It also saith : Let no man become a religious teacher, unless prompt- 
ed by the religious feelings ; and let him never attempt to preach, 
pray, exhort, unless when imbued with this sentiment; so that it 
will gush forth in every word, in every action. Let us have no for- 
mal preaching or praying. 

I think one evil grows out of our having a set ministry : And thht 
is, that the people rely on them to do up their preaching, praying, 
piety. They do not exhort their neighbors to love and good work?, 
because they pay their minister to do that. And so of many other re- 
ligious duties and feelings. Now piety cannot be done up by proxy. 
Every one must be religious for himself If to shurk this private, 
personal piety off on to the ministers, were the natural, necessary con- 
sequence of having ministers, Phrenology would utterly condemn 
having any minister, yet I do not think it is necesary, only accidental, 
caused by a low state of religious feelings. 

But, after all, though religious teachers are good in their places, 
and though they may perhaps do good by exciting their fellow men 
to religious feeling and good works, still no one can pray or be reli- 
gious for any other. Every one must be good and do good for him- 
self Ministers cannot pray instead of their flock, and thus excuse 
the latter. Nor believe for them. Nor be benevolent for them. Nor 
do works meet for repentance for them. " Every man for himself" 
And I really fear, that the mere fact of the existence of ministers of 
religion, is generally abused in this way. We would fain be reli- 
ligious by proxy. Better not have any ministers at all. Then, we 
shall not rely upon them to our soul's injury. Nor need the fact be 
disguised, that many do rely upon their minister to do up their reli- 
gious thinking, and their religious feeling for them. As well get your 
minister to eat for you, or sleep for you, or live for you. And let us 
be religious for our own selves, and also do all that in us lies to pro- 
mote holy feeling and godly conduct among mankind. 

As to the way they make ministers, by laying on of hands, ordain- 
ing, &c. it is all useless. All the ordinations and holy orders of all 
Christendom, from St. Peter down to the latest dates, cannot make a 
person one whit the better man, the better minister. But they some- 
times work injury, by leading the people to suppose a man to be good 
because he has been ordained. As to laying on of hands, mentioned 



241 RELIGIOUS SOC1ETIE3 OR ASSOCIATIONS. 87 

in the Bible, it was evidently, simply a magnetizing of the moral sen- 
timents. As far as the " fathers" in the ministry actually charge the 
moral organs of their seminary-made minister with the religious 
fluid or impulse, by holding their hands on the top of his head, this 
ordaining process may do some good. In no other way. 

A word in this connexion, about the consecration of houses of wor- 
ship. How much more holy, sacred, is that church as a church, or 
the wood and morter that compose it, after its consecration than be- 
fore ? Does the quality of holiness belong to matter ? Does it not 
belong exclusively to mind 1 Perfect nonsense to consecrate, holify 
wood, plaster, pews, steeple ! Too absurd to require exposition. 
And yet, to make it a profanation of holy things, a desecration of the 
sanctuary, to allow any but an ordained minister to mount the pulpit, 
or any thing but the sectarian dogma that consecrated it may allow to be 
uttered within its walls ! Science — Nature — Man ! Oh, horrible ! what 
Profanity ! Desecration ! And then too, a bishop, a church, conse- 
crated by Catholics, is catholic-holy, but tin-holy to all Protestants ; 
while priests and churches consecrated by Trinitarians, are trinitari- 
an-holy, but unitanan-unholy ; and so on of all the sects. I have no 
patience with sectarian religion, sectarian holiness, sectarian church- 
es, ministers, doctrines, any thing sectarian. 3/jutA~€un 

f ll > 






SECTION VI. 

RELIGIOUS SOCIETIES, OR ASSOCIATIONS. 

Next to Clergyman, come Religious Societies, or bodies of relig- 
ionists associated together for religious objects. Is this Phrenologi- 
cal % Clearly so. The principle already explained, that the social 
affections should combine with the moral sentiments, decides this 
matter in favor of religious organizations. But, it also says, that the 
basis of such organizations should be voluntary association, afrd 
without one iota of compulsion or restraint. Phrenology goes in for 
the largest liberty, especially as regards the moral sentiments. It 
does not believe in creeds, in any form ; for this implies that they 
must govern our belief, and this trammels that perfect liberty which the 
nature of man requires. All prescription, all proscription, are abhor- 
rent to this science. I will not here stop to inquiry wherein, but shall 



88 RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 242 

probably demonstrate this principle hereafter. Suffice it fbr the pre* 
sent to observe, that the faculty of will, in like manner with all the 
other faculties, should combine with the moral faculties. Where there 
is compulsion of any kind, in any form, there liberty is abridged, and 
with it virtue and enjoyment. Man was never made to think by 
proxy, or to pin his faith on creeds or on leaders. Every man has or 
should have, religious feelings, intellect, and will, and should exercise 
all three together. Should think for himself without let or hindrance, 
and take the consequences. Perfect liberty of thought and action is 
a cardinal doctrine of Phrenology. But all creeds, and all the reli- 
gious organizations of the day, operate against this liberty. Think of 
it ! The Council of Trent legislating for the consciences of men ! The 
General Assembly, telling their churches and members what they 
shall believe, and what not ! The Pope of Rome, telling intelligent 
beings what is heresy, and what not ! Or the Methodist Conference 
saying, believe this, reject that ! Every thing of this kind — the entire 
paiaphrenalia of modern religious associations — in character, is on 
a par with the fires of Smithfield, and the Inquisition. There are fag- 
gots and inquisitions in our day, in our midst, and I doubt not but that 
some readers have been scorched. I have, and expect to be again.. 
But, having on the coat of truth, woven with asbestos, I tell them to 
fire away, for they are only scorching themselves. I boldly aver, that 
there is more of religious tyranny than of all other kinds of tyranny 
put together. Men must think in the traces — must believe by rule— ox 
else have all their business, all their influence, taken from them. 
We declaim against the intolerance of the Catholics. They are in- 
tolerant. But the Protestants are about as much so. I verily believe, 
that if the civil law did not step in and prevent, religionists of our day 
would burn each other at the stake, Sox opinion's sake — as the honest 
and virtuous Quaker has been burnt — as Salem witches were mur- 
dered ! They do all but hang and burn now. They do even worse. 
They rob of character. They slander, and do the worst they can. In- 
stance the treatment of the Come-outers.* If they had been very devils, 

* I do not choose this illustration in order to side with the Come-outers. I 
Bay they are persecuted, but I also say that they show precisely the intolerent 
spirit towards their enemies that their enemies do towards them. Both deserve 
censure. At least, it is all wrong for them to disturb the meetings of others. 
If others want meetings, or ministers, or what not, be it even liquor, let them 
have them. Let all men do exactly as they please. Simply point out their er- 
rors, in the spirit of kindness of course, and then lei them chose and act for 
themselves. 



243 RELIGIOUS INTOLERANCE. 89 

they should not have been treated as many of them undoubtedly 
were. Would not some folks like to burn a Rodgers now alive, as 
somebody burnt his ancestor % Shame ! a burning shame ! Forbid- 
den by the Bible ! In the teeth of Phenology ! And for opinion's sake ! 
Put on the straight-jacket of creeds, and hew every man's mind 
down to it, lengthwise, breadthwise, all wise (if you hew him in 
pieces) so that you but make him fit into the hole dug out for him ! 
And then call that religion I Religion it is, but it is that of popery. 
It is propensity-veligion. It has not one generous trait to recom- 
mend it. And what is more, each sect has got its own straight-jacket, 
and is trying to fit not only their own members to it, but also all the 
world besides. 

But the worst of all is, that they require us to believe lies, and then 
put us into the Inquisition, because we will not comply. To be corn- 
felled to believe any thing, even the truth, is horrible. But to be 
obliged to believe error, or else to be put upon the rack ! — don't call 
yourselves Christians ! " A rose by any other name may small as 
sweetly." The Bible speaks of that day as most glorious, when every 
man shall worship God " under his own vine and fig-tree." And so 
it will be ; but, though man is a little nearer to that blessed period than 
in the dark ages, he is a long way from it yet. Men are yet at- 
tempting to cram their creeds down each others throats ; and " might 
is right." What moral man but dispises the politics of the day, for 
turning men out of office, and putting them in, for opinion's sake, and 
thus destroying the freedom of the elective franchise. Contemptible % 
And much the very same spirit of proscription runs through nearly 
every sect, only that it is plied with greater minuteness and efficacy 
by the latter than by the former. Why did not Jesus Christ catch 
Judas by his collar, and, after jerking and twiching him about, cuffing 
and pelting him almost to death, pitch him out of the pale of disciple- 
ship % And what would you have thought of him if he had thus 
treated even Judas ? What do you think of yourselves ! and that too 
though your opponents are as sincere in belief, irreproachable in 
life, as yourself, perhaps more so % Away ! It is not Christianity — it 
is narrow-minded, bigotted, tyrannical, sectarian deviltry. I mean, 
to esteem, or treat voluntary man any the better or worse because 
he does or does not believe as you do. Let him believe as he pleases, 
and you believe as you please, yet both continue to be as cordial 
friends as ever. But enough of this painfully disgusting subject* 
Let us all do unto others as we would have them do unto us. As we 
all like to think and act for ourselves, let us yield the same liberty to 






SO PRAYER. ITS DUTY. ITS EFFICACY. 244 

others, and yet not think any the worse of them therefore. And let 
intellect be the only weapon with which to propagate the peaceful re- 
ligion of Jesus Christ. Let Mahomet make men religious by the 
sword. Let the Pope propagate popery by means of the Inquisition. 
Let Protestant dissenters employ in effect the same odious, anti-repub 
lican, anti-christian spirit against which they themselves protested and 
rebelled. But let Phrenologists take the atheist by the hand as cor- 
dially as they do the faithful, and give and take the largest liberty. 

The only principle on which all religious associations, and indeed 
all associations, should proceed, is that of the natural attractions ot 
kindred minds for each other. No formal reception. No expulsion. 
Let members come and go at pleasure, and believe and do what they 
please, influenced only through the medium of intellect. Let the 
pleasure taken in each others society be our only creed — our only 
bond of union. 



SECTION TIL 

PRAYER. ITS DUTY. ITS EFFICACY. 

Veneration prays. Prayer is then our duty, as it certainly is 
our pleasure. This has been already shown. But it remains to an- 
swer the question : Does praying for any given thing have any tenden- 
cy to bring about the end desired ? Does it alter the course of the De- 
ity ? Does it change the immutable plans of the Almighty ? Does it 
set aside the laws of cause and effect 1 No, neither. Then, " How can 
it be efficacious, which the Bible abundantly assures us it is ?" Sim- 
ply thus : We cannot pray for a thing very earnestly without desiring 
it as earnestly. Indeed, prayer is but desire, and each is proportion- 
ate to the other. Now, who does not know that when we desire a 
given thing very much, we naturally, necessarily put forth corres- 
ponding efforts to obtain the thing desired ; or, what is the same 
thing, prayed for ? And who does not know that this effort, this ap- 
plication of appropriate causes to the production of the effects desired, 
tends to bring about the end prayed for just as we produce a crop of 
corn, or wheat, or peas, or whatever else we pray for. We pray for 
every thing we want, and every single thing we effect, is but an answer 
to prayer. To pray for a thing and not to put forth the corresponding 
effort is but mockery — is no prayer, no desire, for desire and effort 



245- PRAYER. HOW IT IS ANSWERED. QJ 

go together pari passu.* Neither can be without the other, and the 
degree of either is the measure of the other, and generally, of the effi- 
cacy of the prayer ; though that is also effected by the amount of 
causality brought to bear upon the end prayed and labored for. 
Causality must accompany veneration — a doctrine already urged. 

" But," says a truly pious Christian, " we sometimes pray for 
things beyond our power to effect, and on which causes cannot be, 
and are not, brought to bear. For instance, I prayed earnestly for 
the conversion of a certain impenitent sinner. I said not a word to 
him. I used no means. But he was converted, and in answer to 
my prayers." Agreed. " A mother prays for her son who is far 
off, and wrestles in spirit for days, but holds no communication with 
him. Still, he is converted. So, with hardened sinners sometimes in 
revivals. So, in regard to praying for the sick, and their almost mi- 
raculous recovery, and in cases innumerable where your plausible 
exposition will not apply." 

First : In the next chapter, I shall present a doctrine in relation to 
spiritual influences which will show how it is that your prayers for 
an impenitent sinner operated as causes, to bring him to repentance. 
Men commune with each other spiritually as well as sensibly. Man 
has a spiritual nature, a magnetic, immaterial nature, that is not al- 
ways chained down to his body, but, bursting the shackles of clay, 
leaps over immeasurable space, and knows neither time nor distance, 
but is indeed and in truth a spirit. This state is pre-eminently a state of 
prayer. And in this state, though the mother sees not her son with 
material eyes, or addresses him with her voice, yet her spirit holds 
communion with his spirit, and his with hers. Though you see not, 
speak not to the impenitent sinner for whom you pray, yet your spirit 
yearns for his spirit, and impresses him with that religious feeling 
which pervades, engrosses, your own soul, which becomes the 
cause, and his convertion, the effect. The organs are all catching. 
The exercise of any faculty in one ; naturally, necessarily, ex- 
cites the same faculty in another. Anger in one electrifies all 
around him with the same angry feeling. So with the religious 
spirit. The religious feelings becoming roused in one, excite the 
same in another. These two combine and reaugment and rekindle 
similar feelings in the souls of others, and thus the " revival" goes 
on till the very atmosphere becomes charged with the religious fluid 

* " With even pace," I sometimes quote Latin because it is often appropriate 
and expressive, and .because I could wish men generally knew more about lan- 
guages. 



32 PRAYER CANNOT CHANGE THE PURPOSES OP COD. 246 

thrown off by so many, which spirit impresses the impenitent and fi- 
nally converts them. 

Secondly : Our world is governed throughout by cause and effect. 
Nothing occurs that is not caused. And this is as true of the world 
of mind as of that of matter. For one, I am not atheist enough to 
believe that the first thing ever occurred without being caused, . Nor 
can I admit that, after the Deity has got his plan all laid right in in- 
finite wisdom and for the greatest good of the greatest number, that 
the prayers of mortals will either change the purpose of high Hea 
ven,* or nullify the laws of causation as to the thing prayed for. 
Such are not my views of God or nature. If, reader, they are yours, 
I pity you. I pray that you may see your error, and I will do my 
best to get my prayer answered ; that is, to convince you that such 
notions show your views of God to be extremely limited and er- 
roneous. 

Intelligent reader ; while this view of prayer diminishes nought 
from the efficacy of prayer, it presents the character of God in a dig- 
nified light, and sustains the great arrangement of, cause and effect 
in all its power, in all its universality. 

It remains to add, that both verbal prayer and also public prayer, 
find their counterpart in Phrenology ; the former in the spontaneous 
disposition of language to clothe thoughts and feelings in appropriate 
expressions, and of adhesiveness, which, with veneration, inculcates 
social prayer. On these two principles, grow both vocal prayer and 
that social prayer in which one is spokesman for the others. Praying 
with and for others, intensifies the action and extends the scope of 
veneration, and thereby increases the pleasure and the profit to be 
derived from its exercise. 

* In making this allusion to the doctrine of Divine decrees, I do not wish to 
be understood to advocate the existence of such decrees ; nor do I now wish 
to be understood as abrogating this doctrine. I simply say let it stand untouch- 
ed for the present. 



247 RELIGIOUS CREEDS, CEREMONIE3, OBSERVANECS, ETC. S3 

SECTION VIII. 

RELIGIOUS CREEDS, CEREMONIES, OBSERVANCES, ETC. 

We cannot well close our observations on this faculty without re- 
marking upon religious forms, ceremonies, rites, observances &c. 
Do they aid veneration, or augment its action 1 If so, they are good. 
If not, they are useless, besides being liable to cheat us with the 
shadow without the substance. 

Phrenology answers this question negatively. It says, that as friend- 
ship is impeded by ceremonies, so is veneration. Gushing friendship 
is all cordiality. It knows no intervention between the feeling and the 
expression. It requires to go through no ceremony in order to express 
itself. So with the religous feelings. And as, when a would-be 
friend receives you very politely and ceremoniously ', you may know 
that he does not feel friendship, but only puts on its semblance, so 
when religious ceremonies are rigidly observed, take it for granted, 
that it is mainly ceremony. That there is very little soul or religion 
in it. 

And I cannot but think thi^to be the New Testament view of this 
matter. I do think, that Christ took special pains to do away with all 
rites, ceremonies, forms, &c. except the two baptism and the comm- 
union, and has not left one form, except a short prayer, on record. 
He does not say that we shall begin our set worship, (or even that we 
shall have any set, formal worship,) with asking a blessing ; to be fol- 
lowed by reading a portion of the Bible, and this, by singing, and this 
by a long prayer ; this again by singing, this by a sermon, and this by 
a short prayer, a sing, and the benediction. One would think this 
specific routine, if not absolutely necessary to salvation, at least had 
some saving virtue in it, and hence its universal adoption. Phrenol- 
ogy sees no special virtue in the Episcopalian or Catholic form of ser- 
vice.— (No heaven-wide difference between them.) It sets no store 
by creeds, by councils, by religious liturgies, prayer-books, homi- 
lies, and all the attache of modern religion. Away with them all. 
They but interrupt thy communion with God from thy heart. And 
if thy religious feelings and aspirations are so weak that these printed 
prayers and set forms are necessary, are even helps to devotion, why 
thy religion is weak indeed ! and thou art making it still weaker. 



94 VOLUNTARY ASSOCIATION THE ONLY PROPER BOND OF UNION. 248 

Break away from all shadows. Regard only the substance. Exer- 
cise the religious feelings. Forms or no forms, printed prayers or 
vocal prayers, or no formal, outward expression of prayers at all, so 
that thy heart but communes with God, So that thy feelings are 
but softened down by prayer's subduing influences ; so that thy soul 
is bedewed with the holy, happy, soul-satisfying worship of thy God. 
But, beware that these ceremonies do not leave thee the shadow for 
the substance. 

Quite analogous to ceremonies, are creeds, articles of faith, &c. 
Phrenology discards them. It is like measuring out a given kind of 
food to each and all members of the human family, and then compel- 
ling them to eat this particular dish, (perhaps dose,) and to eat no more, 
no less, nothing else. And that dish, too, all embittered and even 
poisoned with some ism. It is like making a bedstead, and stretching 
those who are too short to fill it, and cutting off unfeelingly those who 
are too long till they come within its iron dimensions. It also abridges 
liberty of thought. Above all things, it is odious to coerce belief. 
Many a hypocrite do these creeds make ; for he who is true to the faith, 
gets patronized, and he who is not, is not only neglected, but is pro- 
scribed, by a silent influence to be sure, but " by a mighty hand and 
a stretched out arm" notwithstanding. And modern religion gets paid 
for this in her having so many tares, and so little wheat. Phrenology 
says, patronize men none the less, respect them none the less for opin- 
ion's sake. Let a man be an infidel, so that he is sincere, treat him 
just as though he believed with you. Agree to disagree. Proscrip- 
tions for opinion's sake, are detestable. Out upon politicians for giv- 
ing offices exclusively to their own partizans. It is a direct and pal- 
pable interference with the elective franchise, with that pretended, air- 
bubble liberty, in which we glorify ourselves. It must bring even 
politics, (scandalous, contemptible, as they are any how,) into disgrace 
with every sensible man. But, to carry this proscription into religion 
— to buy up religion as they buy up votes — shameful, despicable ! 
And yet this is the nature of all creeds. 

" Oh, but," say you, " we want it as a test of their belief. We want 
none with us who do not believe with us." I repeat : Let members 
come and go at pleasure. Let the natural bonds of friendship and 
adhesion alone operate. Let those form themeselves into religious 
associations whose opinions and feelings naturally, mutually, attract 
each other. Let those go elsewhere whose pleasure in the association 
will not bind them to it. Let those come in who are attracted to it, 
just as the literary seek the society of the literary ; and so of other 



249 SPIRITUALITY OF MARVELLOUSN£SS. 95 

instances of association. Phrenology advocates the largest liberty. 
This liberty, especially of opinion, is the glorious birth-right of every 
human being. Upon this liberty, creeds trespass. It sets articles of 
faith to thinking for those who subscribe thereto. They can be val- 
uable only as they are minute ; and if they are minute, they divide, 
bewilder, injure their subscribers, injure all. 

This train of remark, or these applications of Phrenology, might be 
extended at pleasure, but I forbear. Reader, carry them out for your- 
self. Drink in the fundamental principles, and then run them up 
and out for yourself in their most beautiful, most interesting appli- 
cations. 



CHAPTER III. 



THE SPIRITUAL 



God is a Spirit ; and they that worship Him, must worship Him in spirit 
and in truth. 



SECTION I. 

SPIRITUALITY, OR MARVELLOUSNESS. ITS ANALYSIS AND BEARINGS. 

Perception and feeling of the spiritual ; belief in the superhuman ; trust in Divine 
providences for guidance ; intuitive perception of future events ; the spirit of 
prophecy ; prescience ; that spiritual state of mind and feeling, which, as it 
were, separates the soul from the body, and perceives things independently 
of the physical senses or other faculties ; Faith. 

Man has a soul — a spiritual essence — which sees without eyes, 
hears without ears, operates disembodied, and connects him with 
heaven, and with God. Without this soul, this spirituality, this dis- 
embodied susceptibility, how could he form the least idea of a spiritual 
state, of spiritual beings, or of God as a Spirit, or of any thing at all 
related to the spiritual ? What better idea of any thing spiritual, of 
any thing material, than the blind man, (mentioned on p. 53,) did of 
colors? How completely foreign to all his perceptions would be 
even the being of a God 1 He could conceive of him only as a ma- 
teral being or thing, and could form no conception whatever either, 
right or wrong, of any being, thing, state, independent of matter, any 



96 ANALYSIS OF MARVELLOUSNESS. **>0 

more than the blind man could of colors, or the total idiot of first 
principles. 

But, man has these perceptions and feelings. They are in-wrought 
into his moral constitution, his very being. They are not creatures 
of education ; for how can that be educated which does not exist ? 
How cultivate the spiritual, when we can form no idea whatever of 
the thing to be cultivated ? And the universality of this sentiment, in 
the form of a belief in ghosts, in an hereafter, in transmigration, a 
heaven, a hell, and the like, in all ages, and among all mankind, esta- 
blishes the existence of some faculty analogous to the definition given 
above, from the exercise of which these perceptions and feelings pro- 
ceed. Precisely the same argument, mutatis mutandis ,* which prov- 
ed the existence of veneration, will equally prove the existence of this 
faculty. And this existence and analogy established, the same argu- 
ment of adaptation which established the existence of a God, (p. 47,) 
will establish both the existence of a spiritual state, the spiritual exist- 
ence of God, and the existence of spiritual beings. Let us apply it. 

Belief in a spiritual existence, is universal. From the earliest re- 
cords of man, he has held converse with spiritual beings, and has had 
his heaven and hell. Adam, Cain, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, 
Jacob, Hagar, Esau, Moses, Aaron, Joshua, David, Solomon, the 
Prophets, in sacred history ; the druids of our ancestors ; Eneas, and 
all the ancients ; all paganism, all Christendom, all mankind, in all 
ages, have talked with Jehovah, or with gods, or angels, or devils, or 
departed spirits. Indeed, the entire texture and frame-work of the 
Bible, of ancient mythology, of Hindoo worship, of Indian worship, 
of all religion, is a spiritual existence. To deny that man has the sen. 
timent of the spiritual, is utter folly. To assert that it is formed by 
education, is equal folly ; for education can never create any thing, 
only develop primary powers. Education must have some original 
faculty upon which to operate ; else it is powerless. And, as of vene- 
ration, so of the spiritual feeling. If it were not indigenqus^ it would, 
soon be eradicated. At least, it could not pervade the whole human 
family, and govern them, too, so energetically. A foreign element, a 
parasite, a feeling for which man had no predisposition, and that was 
foreign, and therefore repugnant, to the nature of man, could not pos- 
sibly fasten itself upon that nature and stay fastened, and then infuse 
itself all through that nature as this faculty has done. The 
supposition is preposterous. For, the mental nature of man, like his 
physical, would soon expell a foreign intruder, or else merely furnish 
* " Those things being changed that require to be changed." 



251 MAN REQUIRES A SPIRITUAL NATUR-E. 97 

it room, but would separate itself therefrom completely. I cannot see 
that this point requires argument ; namely, that this sentiment of the 
spiritual is constitutional in man. 

Besides : Man requires such a faculty. Many things can he known 
only by its instrumentality. We often require to know what causality 
cannot reach, because it has no data on which to operate, or because 
unknown contingencies will render the results unknown ; in short, 
which can be arrived at through no other faculty, but which can be 
by this. Which often is by this. Man has a power of vision which 
the light of the sun cannot enlighten, cannot bedim. Which thick 
darkness cannot obstruct. Which penetrates ^ie unknown future. 
Which dives deep into the sea of time, and gathers pearls from its 
bottomless abyss. Which distance does not intercept. Which sees, 
not with the natural eye, but uses the telescope of angels. Which 
reads the book of fate before time has broken its seals. Which de- 
scries danger, and either shuns it or prepares therefor. Which pre- 
cedes time and plucks many a golden apple, a delicious fruit, before 
Saturn* opens them to the gaze and the contemplation of all. Which 
looks down the long vista of time, and surveys all coming ages at one 
great view. Which soars above the clouds of heaven. Which leaps 
death's dark hiatus, and reveals to man what shall be hereafter, when 
the moon dies, the sun goes out, and rolling ages speed their onward 
flight through eternity ! 

But to be specific. First : Man needs some element in his nature 
to spiritualize that nature. To throw off its terrestriality, and ethereal- 
ize his soul. To shake off the materiality of his nature, and clothe 
himself with immateriality, as with a garment of glory. To elevate 
his entire nature. To whisper constantly in his ears that God is a 
spirit ; that he himself is a spirit ; that anon, he will join a spiritual 
throng which no man can number, whose bodies will not wear out ; 
will only brighten with age. Oh ! thou God of spirits innumerable ! 
Can we ever duly love Thee, duly praise Thee, for this the most glo- 
rious department of our nature ? Oh ! do Thou spiritualize our in- 
most souls, that we may see Thee, worship Thee, as Thou art ! That 
we may cheer on earth by tastes, by bountiful repasts, of heaven." I 
do certainly regard this view of the nature of man as beauntiful, glo- 
rious, beyond all expression, all conception. Without it, existence, 
how tame ! Death, our extinction ! Life, transient ! Eternity, ban- 
ished ! No conception of an hereafter, of a God ! But, blessed be 
God, for this element of Spirituality. For the lessons of immortality, 
of divinity it teaches. 

* The god of time, 



98 FOREWARNINGS. — UPSHER. — KENNON. 252 

Secondly: The spirit of man does certainly reveal his coming 
destiny. Man is often forewarned. Often impressed with the feeling 
that that will happen which is about to happen. A few examples : — 

The lamented Upsher, at the very time when the fatal gun was 
loading that blew him to atoms, and immediately before its disas- 
terous explosion, in drinking a toast, took up an empty bottle, and 
remarked, that these dead bodies, (empty bottles,) must be cleared away 
before he could drink his toast. Setting it aside, he took up, by chance, 
another empty bottle, * repeated, that he eould not give his toast till the 
dead bodies were cleared away. Nor did he. In a few seconds his 
own dead body, alona with many others, were indeed " cleared away" 
In conjunction, read Avhat follows from a correspondent of the Boston 
Daily Advertiser, who says: — 

" It is worthy of remark, as a singular instance of pre-supposed 
danger, that the late Secretary of State, Mr. Upshur, could not be pre- 
vailed upon to join in either of the previous excursions in the Prince- 
ton down the Potomac, assigning as a reason his fears of some disaster 
from the big cannon. It was only by much persuasion that his preju- 
dices were surmounted, and he prevailed upon to unite with other 
members of the Cabinet, and many personal friends, in accompanying 
the President on that greatly to be deplored occasion. Of this re- 
markable fact there can be no doubt, for I have it from one who heard 
it from the Secretary's own lips, wondering at the same time that an 
- "vidual possessed of so much good sense, and strong nerve, should 
permit his fears or prejudices thus to influence him." 

While going down to the Princeton in the morning, Com. Kennon, 
another of the killed, remarked to Capt. Saunders, that if any accident 
should befall him on this occasion, he [Capt. S.] would be the next in 
command at the Navy Yard. 

Judge Wilkins had a similar premonition, to which he took heed, 
and by which his life was saved. As the fatal gun was about to be fired, 
he remarked, pleasantly, " Though Secretary of War, I don't like this 
firing, and believe I shall run ;" and suiting the action to the word, 
he retreated to a place of safety. If Judge Upsher or Com. Kennon 
had heeded their premonitions, so plain, so powerful that they were 
uttered, and in the face of the ridicule with which they were met, they 
too would have been saved. So loud was the voice of this spiritual 
monitor in Judge Upsher, that he could hardly be persuaded to go on 

* From all accounts, it would seem, that they had a real drinking frolic on 
board, and that many were intoxicated. I do not mean entirely drunk, but " es- 
sentially corned." What examples for our rulers to set! What a national 
curse such rulers ! And whose money bought that fatal wine ? Reader, it was 
ours, Comment each for himself. 



253 TACTS IN ILLUSTRATION OP INTUITIVE PERCEPTION. 99 

board, and, when on board, could talk only of " dead bodies." These 
facts are undoubted. Their inferences are palpable. These facts are 
recent and striking, but they are by no means alone. Another : 

Sudden Death. The Bay State Democrat of last evening announces 
the death, on Sunday morning, of the Rev. David Damon, Pastor 
of the Unitarian Society at West Cambridge. He was engaged at 
Reading on Friday afternoon last, in preaching a funeral sermon, 
when he was attacked with a fit of apoplexy, which has thus proved 
fatal. A short time since, while delivering an address at a consecration 
of a rural cemetery at West Cambridge, he made the remark, that 
possibly he should be the first to repose in death beneath its shades ; 
and the words of the speaker have literally proved true I — Courier. 

Maria Martin was killed by her sweetheart, William Corder, and 
buried in a barn at Ipswich, England ; and he left for London. Her 
mother-in-law dreamed three nights in succession, that she had been 
killed, and her body buried in a certain red barn. Her dreams alone 
induced a search in the barn, where they discovered the body, and in 
the exact place where she dreamed it was, and dressed in men's 
clothes, as she dreamed it was dressed. He was executed in 1 827. 

The mother of McCoy, the Sabbath before he was killed in the ring 
at White Plains, while lying down to rest was awakened by a horrible 
dream which so terrified her that she sprung from her bed, and run 
into the room where the rest of the family were, exclaiming, " I see 
him horribly bea'~" the blood gushing from his head with great 
fury." The next T^uesc/ay, he wac beaten till he was blind, and died 
from profuse bleeding. 

A highly nervous woman, insisted that her sons should tackle up one 
cold night, and go a given distance in a certain direction, where they 
would find some persons in distress. She had had other premonitions / 
which they had found to be as she directed, and therefore went, and 
found some persons who had been turned over in the snow, and but 
for this timely assistance, would have perished. With her, such pro- 
phesies were so common, and so certain, that her family always fol- 
lowed her visions, because they always found them so uniformly cor- 
rect. 

The wife of the Adams who was murdered by Colt, dreamed, two 
successive nights, before the murder, that she saw the lifeless corpse 
of her husband, all mangled,, wrapped in a sail, and packed away in 
a box. She told this to her husband, and remonstrated almost with 
frantic earnestness the last time he went out, to prevent his going, 
urging as her sole reason, that he would be murdered. So deep was 



100 INTUITIVE PERCEPTION. 254 

the saddening impression left upon her mind, that she felt little sur- 
prise at his not returning, alleging that he had been murdered. 

Mr. R. S. says, he always dreams out any thing remarkable before 
it happens. He dreamed one night that he struck a young friend of 
his, and that the blood gushed out of the wound. In a day or two 
afterwards, this same young friend of whom he dreamed, becoming 
intoxicated, demanded his wages. Mr. S. refused to give them to him 
till he got sober, because he knew he would waste them, and told him 
to come sober to-morrow, and he should have them. But no, he must 
have them then, and took up a club to beat Mr. S., who was obliged 
to clinch in with him, in order to save himself. This young friend 
embraded his hands in the hair of Mr. S., and tried to choke him, til! 
Mr. S., after remonstrating with him, and telling him he should have 
to hurt him, finally struck, and ruptured a blood vessel, which caused 
copious bleeding. The young man, however, recovered, and thank- 
ed Mr. S. for not paying him. 

A friend of mine, living in Albion, Orleans county, N. Y., tackled 
up his horses to go a few miles, and, before starting, called his family 
together, and, what he had never before been known to do, kissing 
them affectionately, bid them all good by. " Why, husband, what in 
the matter? Are you not coming back soon ?" said his wife. " Yes, 
I calculate to return about three o'clock : but, somehow or other, it 
seems to me just as though I never should see you again," was his 
answer. He started. His horses took fright, ran away, and killed 
him, and he was brought back to his family a corpse. This I had 
from his wife. 

Abercombie states several analogous facts. Time would fail me to 
narrate what I have seen, felt, and heard fully authenticated. Indeed, 
the world is full of them. So full, that it requires a greater stretch of 
Marvellousness to disbelieve and account for them, than to ascribe 
them to the natural workings of this faculty. How often, when our 
sky is cloudless, and every prospect bright, does a strange feeling flit 
lightly cross our mind, whisping bad news or trouble in our ears — 
faintly, perhaps, but so that we feel it, and so it turns out to be. And, 
again, how often, when hope is blasted, our way is hedged in with 
thorns, and no bright spot appears on our horizon, do we internally 
feel that all will yet be well, and so it comes to pass ? So strong is 
this sentiment in man, that it has given rise to the proverb, " I feel it 
in my bones? 

But more : The canon of prophecy is not yet sealed. Men pro- 
phesy in this our day. Their spiritual vision precedes the rapid 
flight of time and fore-shadows coining events. A few facts : — 



255 INTUITIVE PERCEPTION. 101 

Elias Hicks prophesied many years ago, that, in 1842, England 
would be without a King, the United States without a President, and 
the times hard in the extreme. And so it came to pass. 

TheTe are many now living in Boston, who, eleven years ago, 
heard Dr. Beecher prophesy, that, in ten years, Tremont Theatre 
would be converted into a church, and he should preach in it. " And 
it was so." Just ten years after uttering this prophesy, he preached 
its dedication sermon. And what is more, he uttered the prophesy 
when there was no shadow of a prospect of its being fulfilled. The 
main theatre of Boston -*- of New-England — popular ; every thing 
against the prophecy. But it has literally been fulfilled, and a at the 
time appointed." And what is still more, this prophecy was uttered 
during a revival, in which this faculty was of course unusually active. 

Josephine was Bonaparte's prophetess. He generally followed her 
advice. She told nim not to go to Russia that year. He disobeyed. 
He fell. Indeed, I do not believe the great man ever lived who had 
not some bosom friend, generally a female, a wife, a sister, a mother, 
a friend of childhood, or some female friend, whose whole soul is in 
the cause to which he devotes his life, to give the required advice. 
This spirituality, this intuition, is in the organization of woman, in 
the head of woman. But enough. I shall not be believed. Then, I do 
not put forth these views as positively as most others that I advance. 
Still, I think them correct. I think I find them advanced by Phreno- 
logy. If others think otherwise, they have as good a right to their 
opinion as I have to mine. 

Thirdly. Man requires and uses this faculty as a guide to truth. 
" There is a divinity within" some men that siezes truth by a kind of 
intuition, and without the aid of intellect. That sce?its truth, as the 
hound, the fox. That drinks it in as the fish drinks in the water, and 
with evidence, without evidence, in spite of fallacious evidence, ar- 
rives at truth. It aids causality in reasoning. It helps comparison 
propound analogies. It joins ideality in her sublime reveries, and 
opens a door for the reception of truth through that channel. It guides 
the social affections upon proper objects. It warns us of hypocrites, 
and tells us whom to shun, whom to trust. Man has, or can have, in 
his own soul, a directory and a compass, to spy out his coming destiny, 
which, unperverted and properly cultivated, will warn him of ap- 
proaching danger and point out the road to success and happiness. 

But I am talking Greek to many. To most. Few have this organ, 
except very feebly developed. Miserably small in the American head ! 
Usually, a deep cavity, and that in so-called Christians. They even 
pride themselves in rejecting Phrenology, Magnetism, every thing, 



102 THH PROOF THAT THERE IS A WORLD OF SPIRITS. 256 

till they can see and understand. Till the reasons, and the whys and 
hows, are given, and so fully as to breakdown all disbelief. Why the 
existence of this organ, unless to be exercised ? Its absence k a great 
defect Its presence constitutes a part of every well balanced and 
truly philosophical mind. If the human mind were so constituted as 
to admit nothing which it did not see, or else fully comprehend and 
understand, its progress in knowledge would be exceedingly slow, 
and its attainments very limited. Children could know little or no- 
thing, for they are incapable of profound reasoning or extensive ob- 
servation Indeed, we are obliged to receive much of knowledge on 
testimony. The importance of the function of this faculty, and of 
duly exercising it, and the utter folly of those who refuse to believe 
till they can see, know, and understand, is thus too apparent to require 
comment 

But, since we take Phrenology for granted in trie start, why at- 
tempt to prove what this science has already proved at our hands ? 
The existence of the faculty, and its analysis in substance, as I have 
given it, or what is tanamount to it, is set at rest by Phrenology. It 
not only shows, as in the case of veneration, that all the other facuities 
are exclusively engrossed each with other functions, but that these 
apparitions and spiritual impressions are made upon the mind by 
means of this faculty. Phrenology drivos the nail of its existence and 
then clinches it. It rendars its existence and functions demonstrably 
certain. 

And glorious indeed are the results to which these inferences con- 
dnct us ! They open immortality upon our vision. They reveal a 
spiritual principle in man which age only invigorates, and which will 
be young far into the vista of eternity. Veneration tells us that there 
is a God. Spirituality tells us that he is a Spirit, and hope tells us 
that we shall one day see him as he is, and be like him. Infinitely 
does it exalt the character and ennoble the nature of man ! Glory ! 
Hallaluia ! 

The argument by which this existence of a world of spirits is esta- 
blished, is analogous to that employed in proving the existence of a 
God, from the adaptation of veneration to that existence. Spirituality 
exists in man. It even forms no inconsiderable a part of his primi- 
tive constitution, one of his original elements of mind. This faculty 
has its counterpart, its adaptation. That adaptation is to a spiritual 
state. Therefore there is a spiritual state of being adapted to this fa- 
culty. Short, but demonstrative. But two points. The existence of 
this faculty in man, which Phrenology sets completely at rest ; and 
\hat great law that one thing being adapted to a second, proves the ex- 



257 SPIRITUALITY CONTINUED. INFERENCES. 103 

istence of this second. Phrenology says that this faculty exists, and 
the inference that a spiritual state also exists, that God is a spirit, that 
man has a spiritual department in his nature, that man can commune 
with God, with spirits, and with eternity, and kindred inferences, fol- 
low as a necessary consequence. 



SECTION II. 

SPIRITUALITY CONTINUED. INFERENCES. 
" To be spiritually minded, is life." 

Having demonstrated the existence of this faculty, it remains to 
point out its legitimate function, and then to draw those inferences de- 
pendent thereon. 

Prayer — spiritual communion with God — is one of its functions. 
I have my doubts whether the spirit of prayer is fully understood — 
whether its true analysis has yet been given. The general impres- 
sion is that its main object should be to bring about something — to 
supplicate some blessing, obtain some gift from God. This interpre- 
tation cannot be sanctioned by Phrenology. This science shows — all 
nature shows — that the whole universe, God himself included, is go- 
verned by immutable, unalterable laws — that causes and effects reign 
supreme, and allow not the least chance for prayer to effect the least 
change in effects, because it cannot change their causes. And to 
suppose that human entreaties can change the mind, the will, the eter- 
nal purpose of the Almighty, is utter folly — is downright blasphemy. 
These notions are revolting to correct notions of the Supreme Ruler 
of the universe. But, having already refuted the doctrine, let us in- 
quire, What is the true function of prayer, and what its effect ? 

Its function is the exercise of the self same spiritual feeling already 
pointed out. The value of this spiritual feeling, has been already 
shown, and prayer induces this spiritual state of mind. " No man 
hath seen God at any time, so that we do not, perhaps cannot, know 
his nature, or the mode of his existence ; but, be he what he may, 
prayer assimilates our souls to his soul, and, by frequently throwing 
us into a spiritual, holy frame of mind, it induces a permanency of 
this spiritual state which foreknows the future, and perceives the truth, 
as if by magic. When particularly anxious to perceive and enforce 
truth, I feel like praying, perhaps not audibly, but like throwing my- 
self into this spiritual state in which truth flows into my own soul, 



104 WHERE TO EXERCISE THE PRAYERFUL SPIRIT. 258 

from which it radiates into the souls of all who hear me. I hope I 
am fully understood as to the effect of prayer on the soul. Hence 
Paul says, K If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth 
to all liberally and upbraideth not." We see, in this aspect of prayer, 
how it is that God giveth wisdom, namely, that by and in the very act 
of praying, we throw our minds into that spiritual state in which we 
perceive truth as if by intuition. As a means of arriving at truth, 
nothing equals prayer, and he who does not pray, is compelled to fol- 
low on after truth through the paths of intellect merely, and plod and 
dig for that which a prayerful spirit perceives at once, and with per- 
fect certainty. And, then, how happy, holy, pure is the praying soul ! 
How transported from earth into that blessed state that awaits the pure 
in heart ! Let scoffers laugh at prayer. Let the sons of sin and lust 
forget to pray. But let me bow the knee of humble prayer, and lift 
the eyes of devotion to my God, and hold sweet communion with him 
till I become embued with his spirit, and am transformed into his 
image ! 

I cannot forbear expressing the conviction not only that prayer is 
not generally understood, but also that there is much less prayer in 
the world than is supposed. Many of our clergymen preach in their 
prayers, and pray as if trying to impress some truth upon the mind 
of the hearers rather than to call out their soul in pure devotion. Let 
ministers preach when they preach, and pray when they pray. These 
preaching prayers are out of place. Besides, they substitute the form 
for the thing, and thus satisfy the praying appetite, without feeding the 
praying spirit. 

As to the best place for exercising the prayerful spirit, Phrenology 
is unequivocal in recommending nature, the open fields, the velvet 
lawn bedecked with flowers, the shaded brook, the mountain cliff 
The works of God are wonderfully calculated to impress his being, 
his attributes upon the soul. They call out the spiritual feeling. 
They bring us near to God. Thgy assimilate us to him. And I 
fully believe, that our churches should be generally in the fields of 
flowers, in the bosom of nature, rather than in houses made with 
hands. If I were to erect a church, upon the plan propounded by 
Phrenology, I should build it of trees unsawed rather than of timbers, 
and of flowers, not with nails. Verdant leaves should be my roof. 
Paths among flowers should be my aisles. A projecting rock should 
be my pulpit. Fragrant trees and flowers should be my perfumery. 
Boquets should be my psalm-books. The chirping songsters of the 
grove should echo to my notes of praise, and the balmy breezes 
should waft my prayers to heaven. Suppose that immense sum ex- 
8 



259 SPIRITUALITY. INFERENCES. 105 

pended in building Trinity Church, in New- York, had been spent in 
making a magnificent pleasure park, adapted expressly to call out the 
religious sentiments, how infinitely more real homage would be of- 
fered up to God than will ever be exercised within its massive, fash- 
ionable walls ! I'have no objection to having churches. If they pro- 
mote the religious feelings, they are useful. If not, they are injurious. 
But, be they good or bad, to spend so much money in their erection, 
is making but a poor use of what, if properly applied, spent in works 
of charity, would do a vast amount of good. 

By spiritualizing the soul, prayer prevents grossness and sinful ani- 
mal indulgence, and refines, elevates, purifies, and exalts the soul more 
than words can tell, but not more than may every reader experience. 

The reader will see an additional reason, from the analysis of this 
faculty, why revivals of religion and religious exercises should be 
permanent^ not transcient. The prevalence of a belief in ghosts is in 
point, and strengthens our position of spiritual premonitions. If you 
ask me whether I believe in the existence and appearance of ghosts, I 
say yes, with emphasis. Not that I ever saw one. Nor is it the tes- 
timony of others that imparts this confidence. It is this principle. I 
never saw an apparition. My organ of spirituality is too small ever 
to see one. But I believe this principle. It will not lie. I believe that 
the spirits of departed friends hover over us, and conduct our choice, 
our course. I believe the spirit of my departed mother has watched 
over her son, guided his footsteps into the paths of Phrenology, and 
still continues to throw around him those spiritual impressions which 
tells him what is truth, and guides him in its exposition. She prayed 
for her oldest son on her dying bed, and even while death was sever- 
ing her spirit from her body. To these spiritual exercises, reader? 
you may possibly owe a small debt of gratitude. And if this be delu- 
sion, let me be deluded. Let me be joined to this idol, if idol it be. 

I believe farther : If we were sufficiently spiritualized, we might 
hold converse with the spirits of our departed friends, with angels, 
and with God ! I believe they might become our guardian angels, to 
tell us all what we should do, and what avoid. I believe we might 
talk with them, as did Abraham, Moses, and the prophets ! And 
when our friends die, we need not be separated from them, though 
we live and they are dead. They are in a state more exalted than 
ours, but, if we were as spiritually minded as we are capable of being, 
we could still hold direct communion with them, and they would be- 
come spiritual conductors, carrying a torch-light by which we could 
guide our erring footsteps into the paths of success, of holiness, of hap- 



106 MR. TENANT THREE DAYS IN A TRANCE. 260 

If this be so, man has in his own bosom a directory, a spy on his 
coming destiny, which, unperverted and properly cultivated, will 
warn him of approaching danger, and point out the course of success 
and happiness. 

Animal Magnetism also establishes the spiritual, immaterial exist, 
ence of mind in a state separate from matter, as clearly as any fact in 
nature can be demonstrated by experiment ; for, first, it throws the 
mind into a state probably analogous to that after death, in which the 
body has little control over it, in which time and space are unknown, 
in which it sees without the eyes, or as disembodied mind sees by 
a spiritual cognizance, and in its independent capacity as mind ; and, 
2dly, when the magnetizer and the magnetized are both pure mind- 
ed, the latter sees and holds converse with the spirits of the departed, 
and receives from them warnings, directions, council, for those who 
make the proper inquiry. Words cannot express what I have seen 
in this respect. And, oh ! If I have ever seen a happy soul, it was 
one in this state, with the moral organs highly charged, and all ex- 
citement removed from the propensities. Description would be sacri- 
lige ! And then to have this holy spell broken in upon by exciting 
one or more of the propensities at the same time ! But I am utterly 
incapable of describing the scene. Still, I saw how ineffably holy and 
happy the human soul could become by the exercise of the moral sen- 
timents, and particularly that faculty under consideration. The Rev- 
erend Mr. Tenant of New Jersey, who was in a trance three days, and 
who, in that state saw and heard what mortal tongue may not, could 
not tell, was in this spiritual state. So are those at religious meetings, 
particularly camp-meetings, who pray and sing till they " have the 
power," as it was formerly called. This having the power, fanatical 
as most religious men call it, is sanctioned by Phrenology. It requires 
guiding, but it could, should be exercised till it transformed earth into 
heaven, and feasted our souls with rich foretastes of those joys which 
" eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor hath it entered into the heart 
of man to conceive," but which are laid up for the spiritually minded. 
But enough, I am treading on holy ground. Few will appreciate. 
Fewer still experience. But woman will appreciate, will feel. To 
her I commend these remarks. Her I exhort to breathe forth these 
holy aspirations, " for in due time, ye shall reap if ye faint not." 
And, oh ! such a harvest. A feast on the food of angels ! A ban- 
quet served up in the palaces of heaven ! Fruit from the tree of eter- 
nity ! Reach forth. It is within your grasp. Pluck and eat, and give 
to others, that they may eat and live. 



261 SPECIAL PROVIDENCES. 107 

SECTION HI. 

SPECIAL PROVIDENCES 
" Trust in the Lord." 

Closely connected with this subject, and deserving of remark in this 
connection, is the doctrine of " Divine Providences" so called. Spiri- 
tual guidance, has already been seen to be recognized by Phrenology. 
But about providential interpositions it knows nothing. Whatever 
effects do not result from causation, or, especially, whatever interrupts 
causation, it discards. Nature never allows anything to step in be- 
tween causes and effects. Spiritual impressions may guide, and hence 
may be called providential interpositions by their guiding our choice ; 
but, they never cut off legitimate effects from their true causes, and sub 
stitute others. Still, an event is none the less providential when a spi 
ritual precaution or monition forewarns us to escape danger, or induces 
us to choose our best good, than if the laws of nature were interrupted 
and the great arrangement of cause and effect rendered null and void ; 
for the results are equally beneficial to us. If our organization be 
fine, and if this feeling of spirituality be cultivated, we shall be pre- 
served from all harm thereby, and guided into the right course, so that 
our happiness be secured. And the fact is beautiful to philosophy, and 
encouraging to mortals, that those who are the most perfectly organi 
zed, should receive most of this heavenly guidance. By cultivating 
those highest elements of our nature, already specified, we shall be 
most effectually promoting our own highest happiness. 

But we cannot dismiss this subject of providence without exposing 
a prevailing error in regard to what are considered providences. Spi- 
rituality perceives, follows, and trusts in these spiritual guidings ; hope 
expects good to result therefrom; veneration adores God therefor; 
and benevolence adoring God for his kindness, trusts in him that these 
spiritual guidings will be for good ; and all, guided by causality, that 
they will harmonize with fixed laws. This principle leads to the in- 
ference that all spiritual guidings and providences, as far as these pro- 
vidences exist, are for good — are never afflictive, but always pleasura- 
ble. Nor does the benevolent Creator of all things do evil that good 
may come. He does not give pain first, that he may give pleasure 
afterwards. In every single instance throughout creation, he so ar- 
ranges it as to give all pleasure, and no pain in order to arrive at that 



108 CHARGING TO PROVIDENCE WHAT WE INFLICT OURSELVES. 262 

pleasure. What right have we, then, to suppose that he makes us 
suffer in order afterward to cause us enjoyment, for this would be a 
toto celo departure from every principle, every fact of his entire gov- 
ernment, and in direct conflict with that view of the divine character and 
government already evolved from Phrenology. No ; afflictive pro- 
vidences do not exist. All pain is but punishment, not providences — 
the natural consequences of violated law, not divine chastisements. 
God does not carelessly dip the arrow of affliction in the wormwood of 
his malignity or wrath, and thrust it causelessly into the soul of man. 
All that God does, from beginning to end, is all promotive of happi- 
ness. The idea, so often held forth from the pulpit, that sickness and 
death in the prime of life, are afflictive providences, sent to chastise us, is 
onerous ; for they are the penalties of violated physical laws. Sick- 
ness and premature death are as much the effects of their legitimate 
causes, as any other event is an effect of its cause. A child dies, and 
the parents, while bleeding under the wounds of lacerated parental 
love, console themselves by " The Lord gave, the Lord hath taken 
away. Blessed be the name of the Lord." " It is the Lord's doings," 
&c. ; whereas they killed their child. They allowed it to disorder its 
stomach and bowels by eating cucumbers, or green corn, or unripe 
fruit, or too much fruit, and then it was exposed and took cold, was 
badly doctored, had the summer complaint, and died. Or, in the fall 
and spring, it was exposed till it took a violent cold ; a fever set in, 
and fastening upon the throat, it had the croup and died. Or, upon 
the head, and it died of brain fever. Its sickness and death were caused, 
and that by violations of the physical laws. It was murdered by neg- 
lect or improper treatment, and then all this blame is thrown off from 
the guilty perpetrators, by charging it to the providence of God. Just 
as though God killed your child ! 

An anecdote in point. One Christmas evening, the parents of a 
child tickled it mightily with the idea, that if it would hang up its 
stocking, Santa Claus would come in the night and fill it full of good 
things. She did so, and in the morning while yet in bed called for 
her stocking, which she found filled with raisins, nuts, rich cakes, &c, 
and which she continued to eat till she had swallowed the whole. 
She was plied through the early part of the day with additional good 
things ; till at three o'clock she was taken in a fit, and died at night. 
Dissection showed the cause of her death to have been simply, solely, 
an overloaded stomach, and yet, at her funeral, the good old minister 
soothed the lacerated feelings of parental anguish by telling the pa- 
rents that " It was the Lord's doings, to which they must bow in silence 



263 SPECIAL PROVIDENCES. 109 

— that h was a mysterious providence, sent as a chastisement, to wean 
them from earth and earthly things, and place their souls on heaven 
and heavenly things." And yet both the gormandizing of the child 
and also the dissection, showed its death to have been caused solely 
by parental indulgence. I doubt not but every reader has seen cases 
in point. And then, what idea must he have of God, who supposes he 
killed the child, not only without law, but directly in the teeth of those 
very laws which he himself has established. And even if they think 
he meant it for their good, just as though he did not know how to 
seek their good without making them thus miserable. 

Similar remarks appertain to the sickness of adults. We go on to 
violate every law of physiology, and for a series of years, and then, 
when nature would fain vindicate her laws by punishing their aggres- 
sion, we deafen our ears and harden our hearts to her remonstrances 
by accusing the Deity of stepping aside from his laws, and tormenting 
us by his afflictive providences, The plain fact is this, that we need 
never be sick. We have no right to be sick. We are culpable for 
being sick, for all of every thing is caused. All sickness is caused, 
and caused directly by the violation of some physiological law. Let 
parents as parents, obey these laws, and then let children be brought 
up in their obedience, and then continue therein all the days of their 
lives, no sickness, no pain, would, could occur. Every organ of the 
body was made to be healthy, none to be sickly. Health is but the 
natural, primitive, action of them all, while sickness is their abnormal 
or painful action. Let them alone, save giving them their unnatural 
stimulants, and they will all go on to perform their normal, healthy 
function from the cradle to the grave. No truth is more self-evident, 
than that health is the natural function of every faculty, and sickness 
their perverted function. If we do not make ourselves sick, we shall 
always be well. Teeth were never made to ache. They were made 
to masticate food. They give us pain only when we cause their decay 
by abusing them. The Indian never has decayed or aching teeth, nor 
need we if we take proper care of them. So with every other organ 
of the body. They all give us pain only after we have abused them, 
and in consequence of that abuse. And the natural order of death is, 
that, like the setting sun, we should gradually descend the hill of life 
and die by slow and imperceptible degrees, just as the western sky be- 
comes less and less bright, till, finally, the last rays have taken their 
departure. Violent death, in the prime of life, is most abhorrent — is 
inconceivably shocking to Benevolence, and forms no part of the natu- 
ral order of things, or of the Providence of God. We die in spite of 



110 CONVERSION. 264 

Providence, instead of by its hand. " We give ourselves the wounds 
we feel. We drink the poisonous gall, and then sickness and death 
punish us for our transgressions. 

If these principles were not rendered perfectly demonstrative by 
physiology, I would cut off my right hand rather than pen them ; for 
they are most unpopular, and especially will excite religious prejudice 
against me. But they are true, and will ultimately bear sway. 
Reader, let me entreat thee to examine this point carefully one full 
year, and then you will coincide with me. I grant that sickness and 
death are often induced by parents, either as parents, in their having 
some hereditary disease, or by their not understanding how to preserve 
the healths of their children ; still, they are never providential, but 
always punishments, and imply guilt some where. 

If I be asked, why I bring forward a point so unpopular, I answer, 
to save life. As long as men continue to regard sickness and death as 
providential, they will not be led to obey the natural laws. But the 
doctrine urged above, cannot be believed without powerfully enforcing 
obedience to those laws ; and I doubt not but a knowledge of this very 
principle will enable many a reader to escape many an afflictive provi- 
dence, and to enjoy the society of his children, companions, and 
friends many years longer than he otherwise would — reason enough, 
surely. 



SECTION IV. 



" Unless ye be converted, &c. ye cannot see the kingdom of God." 

The principles thus represented teach us the true doctrine of those 
spiritual influences called conversion, the operation of Divine grace, 
the Holy Spirit, &c. That a Divine Spirit exists, has been already 
shown. Also, that it is in every place. And that prayer communes 
with him, &c. But, the tendency of the principles already presented, 
shows that we seek him, not he us. He does not turn aside from the 
usual operations of nature, to pour out his spirit upon mankind. Or, 
rather, that spirit is like the wind that blows every where, except 
where it is excluded, and that will blow even there, and with the same 
freedom, if the doors and windows of the human soul be but opened 



265 CONVERSION. — THE OPERATION OP THE HOLY GHOST. Ill 

for its reception. In conversion, I believe. It consists simply in that 
spiritualization of our natures' already pointed out, the main medium 
of which is marvellousness. By operating upon this faculty and or- 
gan, it extends the range of its action so as to quicken benevolence, 
veneration, hope, conscientiousness, and the whole moral group ; and 
this gives them that ascendency over the propensities which we have 
already shown to constitute virtue, the product of which is "joy in the 
Holy Ghost," moral purity, and consequently happiness. Natural, it is ; 
supernatural, it is not. Not for the chosen few — the elect. But as 
free as the air of heaven, or the gushing fountain. All can, who will, 
drink in these heavenly influences — be converted — be holy — be hap- 
py. Nor should any wait to be operated on. They must operate on 
themselves — must pray — must spiritualize themselves. And so we 
must spiritualize, convert, one another ; for all the organs are capable 
of being excited. The exercise of these spiritual feelings in one, will 
tend to excite them in others, and then again in others ; thus widening 
their influences and happifying mankind beyond what tongue can ex- 
press or mind conceive. 

Prayer, being an exercise of this spiritual feeling, is eminently cal- 
culated to promote it in others ; that is, to convert others — to convert 
ourselves. So, praying for the impenitent is equally calculated, as al- 
ready shown, to spiritualize, convert, them. And let all seek these 
religious, elevating influences, for the same reason that they should eat, 
or think, or talk ; namely, to be happy in their exercise. 

But, let these exercises be permanent, not transient. To sudden 
conversions, the same principles apply that are already shown to go- 
vern revivals. But, the mere statement of the principle is sufficient. 

Is it not highly probable, that these principles throw some light on 
the existence of what is called the Holy Spirit ; the Holy Ghost ; the 
Spirit of God, &c. ? Do not these phrases refer simply, solely, to that 
spiritual existence of God already pointed out, and refer to the mode 
of Divine existence, rather than to separate personages of the Deity ? 
At all events, other than this, Phrenology, as far as I am now able to 
interpret it, knows nothing of the existence of a separate part or per- 
son of the Deity corresponding with the usual doctrines of the Holy 
Ghost. 



112 A CHANGE OF HEART. 266 

SECTION V. 

A CHANGE OF HEART CONTINUED. OBJECTION ANSWERED. 



Many believers in the doctrine of a change of heart and life, are un- 
able to reconcile this doctrine with the principles of Phrenology. And 
as the following quotation from page 410 of " Fowler's Practical Phre- 
nology," states and answers this objection satisfactorily, it is inserted 
accordingly. 

" ' To the Messrs. Fowlers : 

" ' Sirs, — At your next lecture, I wish you to explain, according to the 
principles of phrenology, how any material or radical change in a mail's moral 
character, disposition, or conduct, can take place. For example ; we frequently 
see the infidel and irreligious man, suddenly and radically change his sentiments 
and practices in life, and become pious, reverential and devotional; Now, ac- 
cording to the principles of your system,*it seems to follow, that, in reality, there 
are no such changes, and that they are wholly imaginary or hypocritical, or else, 
that there must be a corresponding change of the phrenological organs, namely, 
a sudden diminution of one class of organs, and an equally sudden enlargement 
of another class, whose functions are directly opposite. 

" ' That men do often experience these changes, is evident to every one ; but 
that the bumps of the cranium, are subject to such sudden growth and depres- 
sion, is certainly most doubtful : and, if these organs do not correspond with a 
man's changes in conduct and disposition, how can they have any reciprocal 
relation to his true character? D. J. MALLISON, M. D.' " 

" Admitting this doctrine of a change of character and conduct, called 
regeneration, as believed in and taughfeby orthodox Christians, to be 
correct, and the first question to be considered in relation to its bearings 
upon the doctrines of Phrenology, is, in what does this change consist ? 
From even a superficial view of the subject, it is evident, that it does 
not consist either in a substitution of one primary mental faculty for an 
other opposite faculty, or in a change of the original nature and cha- 
racter of the faculties, or of their proportional strength ; for, if the 
subject of this change possessed a strong and original intellect before 
conversion, he has just as strong and as original an intellect after con- 
version ; but, if he is weak-minded before, he still remains so. Even 
his leading peculiarities of mind, thought, and feeling, remain unal- 
tered. If, before conversion, he possessed a remarkably retentive me- 
mory of incidents, of faces, of dates, of principles, and of places, his 
memory of these things is equally tenacious afterwards ; but, if his 
memory of any of these things was weak before, it is equally so after- 
wards. If, before, he was remarkable for his mechanical or any other 
talents, he is uniformly found to possess these very same talents, and in 
the same degree, afterwards. If he be possessed of a superior musical 
talent before he meets this change, he possesses the very same talent, 
and in the same degree of excellence, after this event. 



267 A CHANGE OF HEART. 113 

" In what, then, does this change consist ? Simply and solely in a 
change of the direction of these respective faculties, or of the objects 
upon tvhich they are exercised, and not in a change of their nature 
and character, or of their relative power. For example : if the per- 
son converted, had a great talent for music, the effect of his conversion 
is to change the direction of this faculty : thus, before conversion, it 
was chiefly exercised in singing songs, lively airs, &c, whereas, it is 
now chiefly exercised upon pieces of sacred music. If, before conver- 
sion, his reasoning powers were great, but exercised principally upon 
political, philosophical, or scientific subjects, they are afterwards 
equally powerful, but directed mainly to religious and theological sub- 
jects. Benevolence, which was before manifested in relieving the 
physical suffering, and promoting the temporal wants and earthly hap- 
piness of his fellow-men, is now directed to a different and far more 
elevated object, namely, the salvation and eternal happiness of 
mankind. And so of every other feeling, faculty, and talent, of the 
individual. 

K Now, inasmuch as the relative power of the faculties themselves, 
remains unchanged, though directed to different objects, there is no 
call for alteration in the proportionate size of the organs, and, of course, 
no need of a sudden diminution of one class of organs, and an equally 
sudden enlargement of another class. But, if this change of heart 
did necessarily involve a change of the nature and the constitution of 
the primary mental powers the inevitable conclusion would be, that 
these faculties were not well made at the first, and therefore, require 
remodelling, or, rather, re-creating, which would necessarily imply 
imperfection on the part of the Creator ; and, not only so, but this radi- 
cal change in the nature of the faculties themselves, would certainly 
destroy the identity of the person converted, thus making him, not a 
new, but another, being. 

" Again : if this conversion were to change the relative power of the 
primary faculties, the same inferences hold good. Whilst, then, the 
nature of the faculties themselves remain unchanged, and their propor- 
tionate strength the same as it was before, the amount of it is, that divine 
grace simply gives to the faculties as they originally or previously were, 

a NEW DIRECTION. 

" An illustration will, perhaps, make the point clear. A steamboat, 
which is made perfect and beautiful throughout, is being propelled 
down a river, by the power of steam. The rudder is turned, and the 
same boat is now propelled up the river, by the same power, and by 
means of the same apparatus. But the boat is not changed, or trans- 
formed ; for it is, by supposition, made perfect ; nor is the nature of 
the steam changed, nor the character or proportionate strength of any 
one thing about the boat. This is not necessary. The boat is perfect. 
Its direction, merely, is altered ; and that by means of the co-operation 
of the power of the boat and that of her commander. So it is in the 
matter of conversion. The sinner is sailing smoothly down the rapid 
current of sin and worldly pleasure. He is arrested, and changes, not 
the nature of the thinking faculties themselves, but merely the direction 



114 OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 268 

of the thoughts produced — not the nature of the propelling powers them- 
selves, but the drift and current of the feelings that flow from those 
powers, by setting before them a different object to stimulate and occupy 
those powers. 

"The analogy of the steamboat, does not, of course, hold good 
throughout ; for man is a moral agent, the steamboat, a mere machine. 
It, however, holds good as far as I have occasion to apply it. Men are 
depraved, not because they have depraved faculties, but because they 
make a depraved use of good faculties : see last proposition under the 
last objection, p. 403 of Fowler's Practical Phrenology. 

" You allude to a ' sudden 1 change. So far as the change is sud- 
den, it is not a change, either of faculties, or of their relative strength. 
This change of the proportionate strength of the faculties is always 
gradual. The man whose besetting sin before conversion, was an 
inordinate craving for money, has the same craving afterwards, with 
this difference merely, that, by the grace given him at conversion, it 
is restrained from breaking out into overt acts of wickedness. The 
same is true of the passionate man, &c. Paul speaks of carrying on a 
' warfare against the lusts of the flesh ;' and the Bible everywhere 
holds out the idea that victory over our depraved propensities, must be 
gradual, and can be obtained only by long continued and laborious 
effort — by watching and praying, and severe self-denial. Christian 
experience is compared to the 'rising light, which,' from a feeble 
gleaming, i groweth brighter and brighter till the perfect day' — l to a 
grain of mustard seed, which,' from the smallest of seeds, ( becomes a 
great tree ;' plainly implying, that, as far as the relative strength of the 
faculties is changed, so far the change is gradual. 

" I would ask any true Christian, if he is not obliged to hold in with 
a strong rein, those propensities that predominated before his conver- 
sion ; and, if a long time is not requisite effectually to subdue " those 
sins that most easily beset him," so that their instinctive promptings 
are not plainly felt. By the time, then, that he has subdued his pro- 
pensities, or altered the relative strength of his faculties, the organs 
will have time to adjust themselves accordingly : see pp. 123, to 1 40, of 
Education and Self-Improvement ; second edition, 1 844. 

" If I mistake not, then, I have clearly shown, that the doctrines and 
principles of phrenology, are not at all inconsistent with the doctrine 
of regeneration ; and, also, that phrenology enables us to tell what kind 
of Christians particular individuals are." 



269 MATERIALISM. 115 

SECTION VI. 

MATERIALISM.— OBJECTION ANSWERED. 

The doctrine of the immateriality of the soul, of an eternal existence 
beyond the grave, is glorious, is beatific, in the highest degree, and 
holds out the blessed hope that that eternity may be infinitely happy, as 
well as of infinite duration. But, it is alleged, that Phrenology mili- 
tates seriously against this soul-inspiring doctrine, by demonstrating 
the existence of relations between the body and the mind so intimate, 
so perfectly reciprocal, in nearly or quite every and all conceivable cir- 
cumstances, as to leave room for the inference — as even to force the in- 
evitable conclusion upon us. that, when the body dies, the soul dies 
also. The intimacy of the relation existing between the body and the 
mind, I admit. But I do not admit the therefore, that mind is mate- 
rial. This therefore depends, not on the intimacy of the relation be- 
tween the body and the mind, but on the fact of the existence of any 
relation whatever. Whether this intimacy be great or little ; uniform, 
or occasional ; perfectly reciprocal, or not so at all ; does not affect the 
question. Be the relation ever so distant, so that it but exist at all, 
that existence goes just as far in proof of either doctrine, materiality or 
immateriality, as would the most intimate relation. But, I cannot see 
that the existence of this relation, be it more or less perfectly reciprocal, 
proves any thing either way. Even if matter should be shown to be 
the cause, and mind the effect, the doctrine of materialism would not 
necessarily follow. If it could even be shown, that organization was 
the cause of mind, and that mind was simply the product or function 
of organization in operation, I cannot see that this product is necessa- 
rily material because its machine or manufacturer is material. And 
the more so, since we cannot say for certain that the physiology is the 
cause, and the mentality the effect, rather than mind the cause, and 
physiology the effect. That laws of cause and effect exist between the 
two, or even govern all the relations of either to the other, is demon- 
strated by Phrenology ; but whether it is the original cast and charac- 
ter of the mind which gives the form and texture to the body, to the 
brain, or the size and other conditions of the latter, that govern the for- 
mer, has not yet been fully established. And even if mind could be 
shown to be the product of organized matter in action, the materiality 
or immateriality of that mind remains still undecided, that depending 
on the nature of mind itself, and not on its material agent. 

But it is hardly necessary to discuss this whole subject of material- 



116 OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 270 

ism itself, but simply to show that Phrenology does not lead thereto. 
The great truth is admitted, that we know nothing of mind in this 
world, except as it manifests itself, and acts by means of the corporeal 
organs. And particularly the brain and mind are perfectly reciprocal, is 
plain matter of fact, which all see and feel every hour, moment, of their 
waking existence. " The whole question, then, seems to resolve it- 
self into this : — Whether or not the connexion of mind and matter ne- 
cessarily involves the doctrine of materialism. 

" But, decide this question as we may, this much is certain, that 
'phrenology is no more liable to the charge of materialism, than is 
every system both of physicks and metaphysicks extant. If phrenology 
is chargeable with materialism, the science of anatomy, of medicine, 
of physiology, of natural and moral philosophy, and, in short, of every 
thing which treats of the human body or mind, is equally chargeable 
with supporting the same doctrine ; for they, one and all, equally with 
phrenology, admit, and even demonstrate, this same great principle of 
the intimate connexion and relation between the physical organization 
and the manifestations of thought and feeling. Nay, even the Bible 
itself is chargeable with this heresy of materialism. But, if there is 
any more materialism in the proposition, that one portion of the brain 
is employed to perform one class of mental functions, and another por- 
tion, another class, than there is in the proposition, that the whole brain 
is brought into action by every operation of the mind, then, indeed, is 
phrenology guilty, but not otherwise. 

All systems of physiology support the doctrine, that the brain is the 
corporeal instrument by means of which the mind performs its various 
functions ; and this doctrine constitutes the data, and the only data 
upon which the charge of materialism, as urged against phrenology, 
is founded. Hence, so far as the objection has any force it virtually 
lies against the existence of any connection between, not only the 
brain and the operations of the mind, but between any portions of mat- 
ter whatever and the mind. But it has already been shown, that we 
know nothing of the existence or operations of mind in this life, as a 
separate entity, or a thing that exists or acts apart from organized or 
animate matter ; but of its existence and operation in connection with 
organized and animate matter, we do know, just as well as we know 
that matter itself exists. 

" But this objection is not urged by infidelity against the Christian 
religion so much as it is by professing Christians against phrenology. 
They argue that " Materialism is false, because it is contrary to divine 
Revelation ; but that phrenology leads to materialism ; and, therefore, 



271 MATERIALISM. OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. H7 

phrenology must be untrue." But let those who are zealous for the 
truth of the Christian religion, beware, lest, by proving materialism 
upon phrenology, they thereby prove it upon themselves, and thus fall 
into the snare which they had set for phrenologists. They infer that, 
if phrenology is true, it necessarily implies the truth of the doctrine of 
materialism, and, consequently, overthrows Christianity. Now, if, 
after all, phrenology should become (as it unquestionably will) fully 
established, materialists and infidels will prove their doctrines by the 
very arguments furnished by Christians themselves. 

" They will reason thus : ' According to your own arguments, if 
phrenology is true it establishes the truth of materialism, infidelity, fatal- 
ism, &c. : phrenology is demonstrably true ; therefore the doctrines 01 
materialism, infidelity, fatalism, &c, are undeniable.' And thus, even 
though their arguments are sophistical, Christians will be ' condemned 
out of their own mouth,' or else driven to the disagreeable alternative 
of admitting that their arguments are fallacious, and the offspring of 
religious bigotry."* 

But, so far from bearing m the least in favor of materialism, Phre- 
nology furnishes the strongest argument that exists in favor of the 
immateriality of the soul, and of a spiritual state. No argument can- 
be stronger in proof of any thing whatever, than the existence of this 
organ and faculty of spirituality is proof that man has an immaterial 
nature, a spiritual existence. What proof can be stronger that man is 
a seeing being than the fact that he possesses eyes, adapting him to 
seeing, and constituting him a seeing being? What, that he is a rea- 
soning being, than his possession of the primary element or faculty of 
reason \ What that he has a spiritual nature than the analysis of the 
primary element of spirituality just shown to form a constituent portion 
of his nature ? It is demonstrative proof. It is the highest possible 
order of proof. It settles the matter completely. It leaves no evasion, 
no cavilling, no room for the shadow of a doubt. Man has a spiritual, 
immaterial nature, just as much as he has a friendly nature, or an ob- 
serving nature, or a moving nature, or any other nature, and is there- 
fore, and thereby, and therein, an immaterial being, just as much as he 
is a thinking being, a talking being a parental being, a remembering 
being, or possessed of any other constitutional quality whatever. Am- 
plification will not strengthen the argument. There it is, in the plain- 
est terms. Whoever admits the truth of Phrenology, and denies that the 
soul is immaterial, is incapable of reasoning. To admit the truth of 
this science, is of necessity to admit the spirituality and the immaterial- 
ity of man. No middle ground, no other position exists. 
* Fowler's Practical Phrenology. 



118 hope. 274 

CHAPTER IV. 

HOPE, AND ITS BEARINGS.— A FUTURE STATE. 

SECTION I. 

ANALYSIS, LOCATION AND BEARINGS OF HOPE. 
Expectation. — Anticipation of future good. 

" Man never is, but always TO BE, blessed." 



Man lives a three-fold life. Through the agency of memory, he lives 
over, again and again, the past, for the ten thousandth time. He lives 
in the present by actual sensation. He lives in the future as often, as 
luxuriantly as he pleases, by mounting to a glowing imagination upon 
the pinions of hope, and soaring aloft, and afar, to that blissful period 
in the future to which he expects ere long to arrive. But for hope, the 
heart would break, the hands hang down. Little would be attempted, 
because little would be expected. In trouble, we should be unwilling 
to change lest it but increase our misfortunes. In prosperity, we should 
not expect its continuance, but stand in perpetual fear of adversity. In- 
deed, words can but feebly portray the condition of the human mind, 
without the enlivening, invigorating influences of hope. Thankful 
should we be for its existence. Careful, lest we abuse it. And assid- 
uous in its proper cultivation. 

But, what is its legitimate function ? What its true sphere 1 What 
its bearings ? What great practical truths does it unfold 1 

Immortality ! A state of being beyond the narrow confines of earth, 
and extending down the endless vista of eternity, infinitely beyond the 
conception of imagination's remotest stretch ! And an eternity of hap- 
piness, too, if we but fulfil its conditions. And to an extent, the height, 
the boundaries of which, Hope, mounted on her loftiest pinions, cannot 
environ — cannot reach. Oh ! the height, the length, the depth, the 
richness, of that ocean of love, of unalloyed bliss, opened up to the 
foretaste of mortals by this faculty ! 



275 HOPE, AND ITS BEARINGS. A FUTURE STATE. 119 

" But," says one, " is not this world the natural sphere, the legitimate 
termination of hope ? Have we not earthly desires and prospects, in 
our children, in property, fame, intellectual attainments, and kindred ob- 
jects, sufficient to satiate this faculty, without resorting to these far- 
fetched, and at best only visionary reveries, of this organ ? What is 
your proof that another state, and not this, constitutes its legitimate 
sphere of exercise ? We knotv, that to hope for this world's goods, is 
its true and natural function. Why, then, abandon its real, known 
function, for one that is both uncertain and chimerical ?" 

Look, first, at its location. Location is a certain guide to direction 
and cast of function. Though every organ is designed to act with 
every other, yet all the organs are designed to act most with those locat- 
ed nearest to them. As the heart and lungs, designed to act with 
perfect reciprocity, are therefore placed close to each other, and so 
of the eyes and brain, and of all the organs of the body; so, of appetite 
and acquisitiveness, that we may lay up eatables ; so, of the social, of 
the intellectual,.of the moral, of all the organs of man. We will not 
demonstrate this principle here, but simply refer the reader to that se- 
ries of articles in Vol. VI., entitled, " The Philosophy of Phrenology," 
where it is fully stated and so applied as to develop many beautiful 
and valuable principles. (See also p. 34 of this work.) But, taking 
this principle of juxta position as admitted, and applying it to hope, 
we find its organ located among the moral organs ; and not among 
the propensities. Now, if in the great economy of nature, the legi- 
timate function of this faculty had been originally intended to be re- 
stricted to this world, (that is, been designed to operate with the pro- 
pensities mainly,) it would have been located among the propensities. 
If man's hopes have been originally intended to fasten on property, 
and to inspire the hope of becoming immensely rich, or to operate with 
ambition so as to create a hope for fame ; or with appetite, to make us 
anticipate rapturously every coming meal, or to work principally with 
the domestic organs, and inspire hopes appertaining to the family -, 
&c, this organ would have been located by the side of acquisitive- 
ness, or approbativeness, or appetite, or the domestic group. But it is 
located as far jrom these animal organs as possible, showing that its 
main function is not to be restricted to the things of time and sense, 
but it is located in the moral group, showing that its main office is to 
hope for moral pleasures, not animal. And what is more, is most, it 
is located by the side of spirituality on the one hand, so that it may fas- 
ten its anticipations mainly upon a spiritual state ; and on the other, 
by the side of conscientiousness, so that it may expect the rewards of 



120 HOPE, AND ITS BEARINGS. 276 

our good deeds. It is this juxta position of hope and conscientious- 
ness which makes us satisfied that when we have done right, we shall 
be the gainers thereby. 

An example: — Let the Author, actuated purely by conscien- 
tious scruples, put forth truths in this work, or in his lectures, 
which he knows will be unpopular for the time being, and be a 
means of retarding its sale, as well as of seriously injuring him for the 
present, yet, the very fact that he is conscious of having done his 
duty thereby, makes him feel that he shall ultimately be the gainer 
by thus telling the truth. That man whose ^conscience is clear, fears 
little. A clear conscience makes a stout heart. It renders its posses- 
sor bold, and makes him not only feel safe, but encourages hope to 
predict ultimate success. Truly " are the righteous as bold as a lion." 
That is, when conscience is in its normal, self-approving state of ac- 
tion, it quiets cautiousness, and stimulates hope to expect happiness 
therefrom. 

But, reverse this principle, and we see why it is that " the wicked 
flee when no man pursueth." For, when conscience is disturbed by 
the compunctions of guilt, this its painful action throws cautiousness 
also into a painful, fearing state, a state of alarm and terror, be- 
sides withdrawing all stimulous from hope. Hence it is that when 
a man feels guilty, he is conscious that he is continually exposed to 
punishment. Walled in on all sides, he could not feel safe. Protect- 
ed by armies of true body-guards, he would live in continual fear. 
Let A. steal, or commit any crime, and let B. step up to him familiarly, 
and tap him on the shoulder: "I did not steal that," exclaims A. 
" No one supposed you did ; but i a guilty conscience needs no accus- 
er,' I now think you did steal it, else you would not be so anxious to 
exonerate yourself," replies B. The plain fact is, that if a man would 
be happy, he must keep his conscience clear, and if he does this, he 
will rarely be miserable. 

Secondly : Man expects to exist hereafter. No other faculty can 
exercise this feeling. As shown under the head of veneration, (p. 49,) 
all the other faculties are exclusively pre-occupied, and wholly en- 
grossed, each in performing its own legitimate function. No one will 
question the position, that those who expect to exist hereafter, do so by 
exercising the organ and faculty of hope. Now, is this expectation 
of immortality the legitimate function of hope, or its abnormal, exotic, 
unnatural function? If the latter, then must this expectation of 
eternity be repulsive, and all up-hill work, contrary to the nature 
of man, and therefore certain not to continue long or extend far. No 



277 A FUTURE STATE. 121 

stronger proof can exist, that to hope for a future state of being is the 
natural function of this faculty, than the universality of this expecta- 
tion in all ages, among all flesh. In short, the same argument by 
which the function of Divine worship was proved to be constitu- 
tional, [p. 46 to 53,] mutatis mutandis, proves, with equal clearness, 
that to expect to exist hereafter is the legitimate, primitive func- 
tion of hope, and not its perverted function. And that same branch 
of this argument by which it was shown that worship was not 
taught, but was innate, also proves the innateness of this expecta- 
tion of eternity. Without this faculty, and unless to hope for eter- 
nity were its true function, man could form no more conception or 
idea of a future state than the blind man could of colors. In short, 
all the ramifications of that argument, apply to this. The premises, 
the data, the application, the answers to objections, the all of either, 
are every way alike. 

But, again: (And this argument applies equally to veneration.) If 
to expect to live hereafter, be the true function of hope, that func- 
tion, that hope, must be every way beneficial to man ; for every 
organ, faculty, element of our nature, exercised in harmony with 
its normal, primitive constitution, is every way promotive of happi- 
ness, because in obedience to the laws of its constitution. But what- 
ever exercise of any faculty is not in harmony with its normal, primi- 
tive constitution, violates the natural laws, and thus induces their pen- 
alty. Now, I submit to any reflecting mind, what pain, what penalty 
is there that grows naturally, necessarily, out of this hope of immor- 
tality ? So far from experiencing pain in the act itself, the human 
mind even exults in the pleasures of such anticipation as much as in, 
perhaps, any other mental exercise whatever. If I wished to give 
the human mind a literal banquet of pleasure, I would feast it on 
thoughts of immortality. If I wished to make the strongest possible, 
and the most impressive, appeal to the mmd or soul of man, I would 
found that appeal on eternity ! Reader ! does thy hope of existing 
hereafter, give thee pleasure or give thee pain? And if pain, is 
that pain the necessary, or the accidental, accompaniment of hope % 
That is, is it absolutely impossible for hope to be exercised without 
inducing this pain? Surely not. Nor do any painful after conse- 
quences grow necessarily out of this exercise of hope. Both the exer- 
cise of hope in this way, and all the products of that exercise, are 
pleasurable only, and pleasurable, too, in the highest possible degree. 
There is no pain, no punishment growing out of this exercise of hope, 
but a certain reward. Therefore, this exercise is in obedience to the 



122 HOPE, AND ITS BEARINGS. 278 

fixed laws of our being, and therefore in harmony with the primitive 
function of this faculty. Nor can this argument be evaded. 

If it be objected, that thinking so mnch of another world, unfits us 
for this, I say thinking just enough about another world is the best 
possible preparation for enjoying this. I go farther : I say that, mere- 
ly in order to enjoy this life fully, we require to hope for another, and 
I submit this remark to the consciousness of every reader. I put 
it home to the feelings of all, whether enjoying another world in anti- 
cipation, does not sweeten every pleasure of this ; and whether a prac- 
tical belief that there is no hereafter, does not render the pleasures 
of this life insipid ; besides, weakening a most powerful motive for 
good, a powerful restraint upon evil. Nor do I feel that this position 
can be shaken or evaded. 

If it be still further objected, that many, that even the majority of, 
professing Christians, spend so much thought upon another world, 
that they fail to study and obey the organic laws, and both shorten 
life and render it miserable ; whereas, if they did not hope for another 
life, they would study to make themselves happy in this ; I answer, by 
admitting the fact, but denying that it is a neeessary consequence of 
believing in an hereafter. So far from it, the highest possible prepa- 
ration for enjoyment in this life, constitutes the best possible prepara- 
tion for enjoying immortality ; and vice versa, the highest possible 
preparation for eternity, involves the very state which will best fit us 
to enjoy time. I know, indeed, that perhaps the majority of our truly 
religious people, neglect health, and often hasten their death, solely in 
consequence of their religious zeal. But, is this the necessary, the 
universal, inevitable consequence of this hope of immortality? Is it 
utterly impossible to indulge the latter without inducing the former ? 
Surely not, and he is simple who asserts otherwise. 

In short : Viewed in any light, in all aspects, the inference is con- 
clusive — is established by the highest order of evidence — that the le- 
gitimate, normal function of hope is to expect to exist beyond the 
grave. 

This established, and the inference becomes clear and even demon- 
strative, that there is a future state adapted to this faculty. If not — if 
there be no hereafter, why was this faculty, or at least this manifesta- 
tion or exercise of it, ever planted in the breast of man ? Would a 
God of truth and mercy thus deceive us ? Would he cruelly raise the 
cup of immortality to our lips only to tantalize us therewith while alive, 
and then to deceive us with the hope of immortality thereby raised in 
our souls, while no immortality exists to await or fill this natural de- 



279 A FUTURE STATE. 123 

sire and expectation? In case there were no hereafter, man would 
have no hope adapted thereto, or capable of creating this expectation. 
And, surely, the location of hope by the side of spirituality, so that 
the two may naturally act together, and thereby create the desire, the 
feeling, that there is a spiritual state, and that we shall exist therein 
forever, forms the strongest kind of proof that there is an hereafter, a 
spiritual, never-ending state, adapted to that constitutional arrangement 
of the nature of man. Who can doubt the concentration of proof that 
goes to establish this glorious result 1 Who can say that this radiat- 
ing focus of truth is but midnight darkness, or only the glare of the 
delusive ignis fatuus ? Nor have I ever seen the man who could inva- 
lidate this blessed conclusion. It is plainly grafted on the nature of 
man, or, rather, founded in it. The admission of the truth of Phre- 
nology, presupposes, and necessarily implies, the conclusion to which 
we have thus been brought. And I am free to confess, that, faith 
aside, and as a matter of reason and argument, I pin my hopes of im- 
mortality (and they are neither few nor weak,) on this argument. 
No other argument that I have ever seen at all compares with it in 
point of clearness and force. I repeat it. A natural, spontaneous ex- 
ercise of the faculty of hope, is an expectation of existing hereafter. 
This is its natural, legitimate, primitive function ; therefore, this 
faculty is adapted, and adapts man, to an hereafter. Hence there is 
an hereafter adapted to this organ. 

Many infidels have been converted from Atheism, or at least from 
scepticism thereby- Among the thousands that have come to my 
knowledge, the following are given as samples : — 

" New-Fairfield, March, 1843. 
" Mr. Editor — During the little leisure I could get from the duties 
of a private school under my charge for about eighteen months past, I 
have been studying Phrenology. From the first, I was so deeply 
interested in its principles, its application to morals, religion, and al- 
most every other subject of public importance, that I determined to 
become its public advocate as socto as I could command time and 
means to acquire that practical proficiency adequate to the accom- 
plishment of the duties involved in so responsible an undertaking. 
And I think, of all other persons, I have the greatest reason to love 
and to reverence Phrenology, inasmuch as it has been one of the prin- 
cipal instruments in saving me from the rock of infidelity, on which I 
had struck. When I saw, that the mind was constitutionally adapted 
to the great and leading principles of Christianity, I was enabled to 
comprehend the fallacy of the base and servile doctrines of the infidel. 
Instead of inculcating or encouraging any thing anti-Christian, as 
some in their ignorance and opposition have said, Phrenology beauti- 



124 HOPE, AND ITS BEARINGS* 280 

fully explains and establishes all the important principles of religion. 
We find, that certain organs of the brain are necessary for the exer- 
cise of those feelings of worship and adoration of the Deity, trust 
in his providences, and confidence in the revelations of his will. 
Hence, the infidel must, at least, be deficient in the organs of venera- 
tion and marvellousness, and, accordingly, this was the case with me. 
And now, to obviate this tendency to disbelief, I set intellect over 
against it, and take the revelations of God for granted, without once 
trying to doubt them — knowing that my doubts are the result of small 
marvellousness. To me, the fact, that there is an organ whose func- 
tion is, trust in Divine providence, and belief in the spiritual, proves a 
future state, and an over-ruling hand. If this be not the case : then 
the Creator has given us a faculty for perceiving, and having faith in, 
a state which does not exist — a thing entirely incompatible with the 
character of Omnipotence. 

" Now, the confirmed infidel or atheist requires some plain, posi- 
tive, and tangible evidence, that may be brought under the cogniz- 
ance of his senses ; and this is the kind of evidence afforded by Phre- 
nology, for he can both see and feel it. It was this process of reason- 
ing that convinced me of the truth of Christianity, and the error of 
infidelity, and I feel bound by love to the science, and the interest I 
feel for those who have unfortunately stranded upon the shoals of in- 
fidelity, to make this public statement. " B. J. Gray." 

Extract of a letter from a gentleman in R. 1., dated May, 1844. 
" A little more than a year since, an inquiry arose in my mind re- 
specting the truth of the fundamentals of religion, such as the being 
of a God — the divinity of the scriptures, &c. But, my mind becom- 
ing excited on these points, and getting into a doubting, sceptical 
mood, did not stop here. I asked after the foundation and origin of 
governments, the utility of the social state, &c. I would know what 
constituted an action virtuous, or if there was actually any propriety 
in the distinction of right and wrong. I ruminated over all the ' scenes 
of man,' to inquire into the elements of every thing, to see if, in spite 
of pride, in erring reason's spite, ' whatever is, is right 7 — I feared what- 
ever is, is wrong ; or, at least, I felt I must see the reasons for Pope's 
proposition. ' Time would fail me' to give you a detailed account of 
the state of mind into which I was hurled. What I have said must 
suffice. But I began to read extensively. I procured the best books 
I could obtain on the subjects which looked most momentous to me. 
I began to meditate also methodically and rigidly, to determine per- 
plexing questions with the precision of a philosopher. But I found, 
what I had partly realized before, that authors differed, and that I was 
in want of first principles. In my distress, I turned my attention to 
Phrenology, of which I had already a little knowledge, for salvation 
from universal scepticism's painful confusion or derangement — which 
last I very much feared. And, blessed be God, I found it a uni- 
versal logic, an endless dictionary, a chart of the universe, and the 
God of first principles. Before the revelations of Phrenology, all 
of my doubts and perplexities fled like morning vapors chased away 



281 TESTIMONIALS OF CONVERTS FROM ^FIDELITY. 125 

by the rising- sun, and left my soul to enjoy a great amount of truth, 

established in the certainty of demonstration. And it was during the 

time of my emancipation from the thraldom of corroding, soul-killing 

uncertainties, that I became acquainted with your writings. I feel to 

rejoice that you have ever been raised up to labor as a Phrenologist. 
* * * * * * # * 

I must say, before I close, I am waiting with intense interest to see 
what you shall say upon theology in the ' Journal ' of this year. Hun- 
dreds and thousands are doing the same. Among these, I know of 
several distinguished ministers of the gospel. Do your best. Ee 
thorough. Your work, ' Natural Theory of Phrenology,' is good ; 
but too limited, as I wrote you several months since. Don't leave a 
point not thoroughly treated." 

Letters and statements of this character, flow in continually from all 
quarters. Those who accuse Phrenology of leading to infidelity and 
scepticism, either practically or theoretically, have either but a smat- 
tering of this sublime, this religious science, or else are incapable of 
comprehending it. Its influence on my own mind has been to deepen 
my religious feelings, and enlarge their boundaries, not to enfeeble 
them. True, it has enfeebled my narrow minded sectarian notions. 
I thank God that it has. Much that was bigoted, intolorant, contracted, 
and erroneous, it has abolished. But the gold of Ophir, the wealth of 
India, the treasures of the whole earth, could be but a drop in the buck- 
et compared with the value of those religious doctrines and feelings 
it has added to my former religious stock. Nothing would tempt me to 
return back to that state of semi-darkness from which Phrenology has 
delivered me. I consider that true religious feeling has been multi- 
plied within me a hundred fold by this science. Nor, in all my ex- 
tended acqaintance, do I know the man w r hom Phrenology has ren- 
dered infidel. I know those whom it has liberalized. Whose bigotry 
it has slain. But not whose soul it has hardened to religious impres- 
sions. It will melt the hearts of all who drink in its doctrines. Fear 
not, then, intellectual reader. Fear not, pious reader. It will make 
you better Christians. It will purify your souls. It will elevate your 
religious nature. It will make you more holy-minded, more exalted 
in your views of the character and government of God, and go far to- 
wards preparing you for a blessed immortality. 



126 HOPE. MISCELLANEOUS INFERENCES. 223 

SECTION II. 

HOPE CONTINUED. MISCELLANEOUS INFERENCES. 

" Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and 
which entereth into that within the veil." 

Having pointed out the general function of hope, it remains to add 
a few suggestions relative to its exercise. 

1. It is very large in the American head — larger than in the heads 
of any other nation which it has been my good fortune to examine ; 
caused, doubtless, by that continual inflation of it, growing out of the 
very nature of our institutions. (See Hereditary Descent, p. 47.) 

2. It combines mainly with acquisitiveness ; whereas it should com- 
bine mainly with the moral faculties. We confine our hopes mainly 
to the things of this world ; whereas we should place them mostly on 
heaven and heavenly things. On this root of the violation of man's 
nature, grow the inflations and depressions of trade in this country 
which have overthrown so many, and set our whole nation upon the 
full gallop after riches. Our pecuniary embarrassments were not 
caused, cannot be cured, by either political party, or leader, by a na- 
tional bank, or the want of it, but simply, solely, by the over-exercise 
of hope, and by confining it to this world ; whereas it should soar to 
another. And as long as men go on to violate this law of their na- 
tures, by this wrong exercise of this moral faculty, they must suffer 
the penalties of its infraction. But, when they will obey this law, 
not only will our pecuniary embarrassments cease, and our worldly 
spirit be subdued, but all the glorious, soul-inspiring fruits of its. pro- 
per exercise, will be ours in this life, along with a preparation for that 
which is to come. 

3. This organ is sometimes too small. Those professing Chris- 
tians in whom it is small, with small self-esteem, and large cautious- 
ness and conscientiousness, suffer much from gloomy religious feelino-s 
feel extremely unworthy, and too guilty to be saved, and indulge 
doubts and fears as to their future salvation. Let such remember that 
these gloomy doubts and fears are not piety, but are inconsistent with 
it — that the absence of hope is a defect, and that, if this organ were 
larger, and conscientiousness smaller, though their conduct would be 
no better, and heart perhaps worse, yet their hopes of heaven would 
be much stronger, while their prospects of future happiness would be 



228 THE PROPER CULTIVATION OF HOPE. 127 

less bright. To such, Phrenology says, that these gloomy feelings 
are caused, not by any actual danger, but simply by their organs. It 
tells them to cultivate this organ, and not to indulge these religious 
doubts and fears. 

4. I find, that most disbelievers in a future state, have moderate or 
small hope, and hence their expectation of existing hereafter is feeble. 
They say and feel, " well, I neither know, nor care much, whether 1 
am to live hereafter or not, but I will take my chance with the rest 
of mankind." To such, this science says, your doubts as to a future 
state grow out of your imperfect phrenological organization, and not 
out of the fact that a future state is doubtful Cultivate and properly 
direct this faculty, and your doubts will vanish, your soul be cheered 
with hopes of immortality. 

5. The proper cultivation and exercise of hope, becomes a matter 
of great importance. To show how to enlarge and direct this faculty, 
does not come within the compass of this work, they having been 
treated in 'Education and Self-Improvement."* Suffice it to say, that 
in order to enlarge it, it must be exercised, and to effect this, its appro- 
priate food, (immortality,) must be kept continually before it ; it being 
feasted thereon, and ravished thereby. 

6. It is a little remarkable that the exercise of this faculty, in refer- 
ence to a future state, is so often commended and enforced in the Bible. 
In this, the Bible harmonizes with Phrenology, and is right 

7. Some beautiful inferences grow out of the combinations of hope 
and marvellousness, but being in possession of the requiste data, the 
reader can carry them out for himself. 

* Directions for cultivating all the moral faculties, and indeed all the faculties, 
will be found in that work, so that their repetition here would be out of place. 



128 BENEVOLENCE. 283 



CHAPTER V. 

BENEVOLENCE.— ITS ANALYSIS, AND THE TRUTHS TAUGHT 
THEREBY. 



SECTION I. 

2NCE, AND T 
DOING GOOD. 

" It is more blessed to give than to receive." — Christ, 

Pain exists, and man is the subject of it. Governed by laws, the 
violation of which induces pain, man often sins and suffers. Instead of 
placing us in a world of chaos, confusion, uncertainty, and chance, 
Infinite Wisdom has seen fit to throw laws around us, and to sanction 
those laws, by rewarding their obedience with pleasure, and punish- 
ing their infraction with pain. But for these laws, man could have 
calculated upon nothing, could have enjoyed, could have effected no- 
thing ; and without the reward of pleasure attached to their obedience, 
and a penalty of suffering affixed to their infraction, these laws would 
have been utterly powerless, and therefore perfectly useless. Indeed, 
self-contradictory though it may seem, no feature of the Divine charac- 
ter or government is more benevolent than in the institution of pain ; 
for, without it, we should be liable, carelessly or ignorantly, to lean 
upon a red hot stove, or put our hands into prusic acid, and destroy 
them, and indeed to destroy all parts of our frame a hundred times 
over, if possible ; as we now are, the instant we injure ourselves, or 
violate any physical law, we feel pain, and are thereby warned of our 
sin, and seek relief. So in the world of mind. We may even take 
it for granted, that every pain ever experienced, or ever to be experi- 
enced by man, is a consequence of the violation of some law of his 
being. And on the other hand, that evary pleasure we experience, 
whether mental or physical, flows from our voluntary or involuntary 
obedience of some law. 

But, if this institution of pain existed, unless man had some faculty 
analogous to that of benevolence, to dispose him to pour the oil of con- 
solation into the soul of the sufferer, and assuage his pain, how deso- 
late would our world have been ! Callous to the sufferings of our 
fellow-beings, and not disposed to lift a finger to relieve them ! Re- 



284 . THE DUTY AND PLEASURE OF DOING GOOD. 129 

gardless of how much pain we inflicted, how much trouble we caused ! 
not one kind feeling in the soul of man ! How utterly desolate ! How 
shorn of its blesssings, would be our earth ! Or, if man had been 
created an isolated being, incapable of bestowing or receiving favors, 
or of augmenting or effecting the happiness of his fellow-men, this 
faculty would have been out of place, and only tormented its possessor 
with the sight of suffering which could not be relieved. But, a bene- 
volent God has instituted pain for a wise and beneficial purpose. But 
lest suffering unrelieved should blast, or at least mar, his works, he has 
offset it by planting in the soul of man this kindly feeling for his fellow- 
men. And then, in addition to this, he has put man into that relation 
with his fellow-men by which he can both assuage their suffering and 
promote their happiness. 

Again, the exercise of every organ gives its possessor pleasure in 
proportion to its size and activity. Benevolence is a large organ, and 
therefore fills the heart of the truly benevolent man with as pure 
and enalted pleasure as he is capable of experiencing ; for, " it is more 
blessed to give than to receive." Thus does it double the pleasure of 
man ; first, by pouring the oil of consolation into the wounded heart ; 
and, secondly, by filling the benevolent soul with a pure fountain of 
pleasure, " which the world can neither give nor take away." But 
for the existence of suffering, this faculty would have had no sphere of 
action, and must have been in the way ; but, with the existence of pain, 
man is rendered, as already seen, much more happy than he could 
possibly have been without either law or consequent suffering ; and 
doubly happy : first, in bestowing charity, and in doing acts of kind- 
ness ; and secondly, in becoming the recipient ot these favors, and 
responding to them with heart-felt gratitude. Oh, God ! in infinite 
wisdom hast Thou made us ! Thou hast bound us to Thee and to one 
another by a three-fold cord of love and wisdom : first, by the institu- I 
tion of pain ; secondly, by off-setting this institution with this faculty, 
and, thereby, by making its exercise so pleasurable to both giver and 
receiver ! Wanting in either, Thy government would have been im- 
perfect. But possessed of all combined, it is infinite in itself, and infi- 
nitely promotive of the happiness of all Thy terrestrial creatures ! 

The existence of this faculty, makes it our imperious duty to exer- 
cise it in doing good, and to exercise it much, because it is a large or- 
gan ; that is, it occupies, when large, a greater periphera or surface 
on the scull, and a greater amount of brain, than perhaps any other 
organ ; and, as already observed, Phrenology requires us to exercise 
every organ habitually, and in proportion to its relative size when 



130 THE FUNCTION OF BENEVOLENCE. 285 

large. Man is too selfish, even for his own interest. If he were less 
selfish, he would be more selfish : that is, if he were more benevolent, 
he would be more happy. This organ saith ; " Throw open the doors 
of thy house to the benighted wanderer. Be more hospitable, for thou 
mayest entertain angels unawares. Make sacrifices to do good, and 
thou wilt thus cast thy bread upon the waters, to be gathered in great- 
ly increased. Nay, in the very act of doing good, thou hast thy re- 
ward." 

But, not to dismiss this subject with the mere abstract inference, 
that it is our duty to do good, let us look at some of its practical illus- 
trations ; that is, to the advantages to be derived from its general and 
proper exercise. To draw an illustration from hospitality : To enter- 
tain friends, and even strangers, is one of our greatest pleasures. It 
is not the order of nature, that we should have so many public houses. 
For, besides their being the greatest nuisances that curse any commu- 
nity, the recepticles of gambling, drinking, and all sorts of wicked- 
ness, which, but for them, could not exist, they deprive us of that pri- 
vilege of exercising the hospitable feeling which would result from 
throwing open our doors to our fellow-men, and loading our tables to 
feed the hungry. In a tavern, little social feeling is exercised, and 
but little benevolence. It is purely a dollar and cent affair, and very 
dear does it cost those who are entertained ; because a few of the 
guests want a great deal of waiting upon, which raises the price, and 
then those who want but little, have to pay just as much ; thus wound- 
ing acquisitiveness and conscientiousness. 

Familiar as I am with the principle, that the violation of any of the 
natural laws punishes the disobedient, I am, notwithstanding, often 
surprised and delighted to see it practically illustrated in ways innu- 
merable, which escape general observation. The violation of the 
law of hospitality is a case in point. Taverns are the direct, legiti- 
mate product of the violation of the law of hospitality. And " eye hath 
not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man 
to conceive," the number and the aggravation of the public and pri- 
vate sinfulness and vice, of all descriptions and degrees of heineous- 
ness, that grow on this root of violated natural law. Drinking, and 
all the vices that accompany it, " whose name is legion," are their le- 
gitimate offspring. If taverns produced but this single sin, it would be 
punishment enough in all conscience, yet this is but the beginning. 
Balls are another. Not that dancing itself is wrong. Indulged in at 
proper seasons, say in the day time, or till nine or ten o'clock in the 
evening, dancing would be the best recreations to be found, and 



286 TAVERNS. THEIR INFLUENCE, ETC. 131 

most healthy, especially for woman ; hut, carried to excess, and con- 
nected, as it usually is, with drinking and many other objectionable 
things, especially the exercise of amativeness, in various combinations, 
I deem it most objectionable. Besides, dancing being carried to 
such excess, generally continued all night, trespasses too much upon 
time that should be allotted to sleep, of which young people require a 
great amount. They also cultivate artificial manners. These balls 
are almost always held in taverns, and go to support them. 

Another is, tavern associations — tavern stories, (almost always ob- 
scene,) tavern lingo, of which profane swearing furnishes the warp 
and considerable of the filling,* betting, political discussions, 
horse-racing, and this whole class of evils. I should rather bury my 
children than have them brought up in a tavern where liquor is sold. 
I would make an exception in favor of temperance taverns, and I urge 
it upon every temperance man, upon all moral men, to patronize tem- 
perance taverns wherever they can be found. I never go to any other 
when there is one in the place, and I am sometimes almost tempted even 
to solicit entertainment in private families, rather than to put up at a 
liquor-selling house however "respectable." 

My brother urges that taverns should be supported at public ex- 
pense,- as we support a minister, for example, so that they may not be 
allowsd to sell liquor. He argues, that we properly pay taxfcs to sup- 
port the poor ; that these poor are almost all made by taverns • and 
that we should be gainers by supporting taverns at public expense 
rather than the poor made by these taverns. That they are a great 
public curse, cannot be questioned. That we can do without them, 1 
fully believe, Quakers make perfectly free to call on each other for 
entertainment wherever they are. I doubt not they call it a great 
privilege both to entertain each other, though perfect strangers, and 
certainly it is most grateful to be thus entertained. Let us all mani- 
fest the quaker spirit, and we shall rid our land of its most blighting 

♦Swearing is unquestionably a great sin, not so much against Gcd, as the 
swearer. If, as is often, perhaps usually, the case, it is mainly the diaiect of an- 
ger and blackguardism, it simply shows the disposition of the one who swears, and 
tends to increase his rough, wrathful state of mind. If it has become habitual, it 
shows that these feelings are habitual, and indicates permanent depravity. It also 
tends to increase these unhappy feelings in the minds of those who hear it. 
Swearing before children is very bad ; because all children will imitate, and by imi- 
tating the language of swearers, they soon come to feel the accompanying feek- 
ing, and thus grow up under the dominion of the propensities. I put swearing up- 
on the ground of the injury it does to the swearer and to the community, rather 
than on its being an offence against God. It also indicates vulgarity. 



132 BENEVOLENCE. DOING GOOD. 287 

sirocco — public houses — and both give and receive a vast amount of 
pieasure. This doctrine is correct in theory, and beautiful in practice, 
and I hereby extend the rites of hospitality to all who may chance to 
pass my door,* and want victuals or lodging, as free as the air we 
breathe. By this means, vast accessions of knowledge would be de- 
rived by that interchange of views, experience, feelings, &c, conse- 
quet thereon. Acquaintances would be extended, friends multiplied, 
and society linked together by the strongest of bonds. In short, it is 
impossible to count or estimate the blessings that would grow on this 
tree of the nature of man. 

Another illustration of the beneficial effects of exercising benevo 
lence, is to be found in providing for the poor. The way they are 
now supported, almost entirely precludes the exercise of this faculty. 
This should not be. I doubt whether there need ever be any 
poor. To do away with taverns alone would obviate probably two 
thirds of their number. And most of the balance would never be- 
come poor but for this grasping love of money which actuates all 
classes, and hoards immense wealth in the hands of the few, and 
thereby ever over-reaches the many. Property is only another name 
for the necessaries and comforts of life. Now it is plain, that if a few 
have a great amount of them, the many must be proportionally de- 
prived thereof. I believe it wrong to become very rich, and that it 
should be prohibited by law, just as we prohibit other things that in- 
jure the public. 

Especially, if we give the poor an opportunity to help themselves, 
nearly all would embrace it. To be supported at public expense, is 
most humiliating. How many poor widows have worked themselves 
into their graves to support a starving family, rather than to go upon 
the town ! Reader, writer ! how would you like to go to the poor- 
house ? But, when poor, and needing help, if some more fortunate neigh- 
bor would give you an opportunity to help yourself, to till land, or to 
do other work, how would your lightened heart leap for joy ! The 
prettiest way to help a poor neighbor is to employ him, and to give 
him ample, bountiful if you please, wages. 

A story : — A fortunate, but benevolent man, had a poor colored 
neighbor too infirm to do much, but very deserving. The former 
would sell to the latter, but postpone the reception of pay, or tell him 
that he would give him a certain sum per capot for whatever tares 

* Three miles north of Fishkill village, on the road to Ponghkeepsie, Dutches ■ 
county, N. Y. I call it " The Bird's Nest." 



288 HOW TO EXERCISE BENEVOLENCE. 133 

or vermin he wished exterminated ; say, a round sum for the head of 
every crow, or squirrel, or muskrat, <fec, or for every thistle-root, or 
dock-root, &c. In this way, the poor man nominally paid for what 
he had, so as to be relieved from that oppressive feeling of obligation 
and dependence that always accompanies the reception of gifts, and 
yet was as much benefited as though he had not paid a cent. Thou 
sands of ways which every reader can devise for himself, may be 
contrived in which to bestow charity and yet relieve the recipient from 
all feelings of obligation. 

Making Christmas, new-year, and other holiday presents, furnishes 
another delightful exercise of this faculty. Phrenology recommends 
it most cordially, and also the general interchange of neighborly acts, 
Thus : " neighbor A. come over into my orchard whenever you'like and 
help yourself to such apples, pears, plums, cherries, peaches, and the 
like as you please." •' Thank you, neighbor, I will avail myself of your 
kind offer. I have a fine lot of currents, more, probably, than will be 
wanted. Come over or send any of your folks, and pick what you 
like. My grapes come on finely, and when ripe, make free to pick 
what you want." Or, as you pick a fine watermellon for your din- 
ner, send one in to your neighbor, or a dish of fruit, or a quarter of 
veal, or a few pounds of butter, or a large loaf of cake, or what- 
ever you can conveniently spare. Neighbors should not count dollars 
and cents as often as they now do ; nor as many thousands. 

My uncle and my father, living on adjoining farms, were in the habit 
of" changing works," whenever either needed help and the other could 
spare it. If either had a lot of hay down and needed help, and the 
other was not driven with work, they would both turn too and help 
each other ; and so in reference to grain, or hoeing, or ploughing — 
every thing that seemed to require it ; neither ever thinking of keep- 
ing any account, or putting the matter on the ground of debt or credit, 
but on that of neighborly accommodation. Nor did I ever hear a 
word of complaint from either, that the other had not helped his part, 
or any thing of this kind. So that neighbors can interchange these 
acts of kindness greatly to the accommodation of each other, and with- 
out any thing to mar the good resulting therefrom. 

Again. Many more things should be regarded as common prop- 
erty than now are. Say, let every town own considerable public 
ground, on which any who pleased are allowed to raise potatoes, or 
corn, or what they like or need. So, also, let there be much more 
public spirit than now exists. Let every town have its pleasure park, 
full of fruit and ornamental trees, the fruit of which shall be common 



134 THE DUTY AND PLEASURE OF DOING GOOD. 289 

property, and where the whole town may congregate, say at sunset for 
recreation and an interchange of good feeling — where our youth may 
meet for play, where our boys may drive the ball, our girls the hoop, 
our maidens take the fresh air, and give vent to their youthful, buoy- 
ant, sportive, merry, happy feelings. There is no telling how much 
pleasure, profit, might be derived from such an arrangement. 

Analogous to this would be that of lining our roads with fruit trees 
of all kinds. Let the inhabitants of any town, of all our towns, save 
the pits and seeds of all the fruit eaten in but a single year, and plant 
them by the way-side, and then graft them with the very best of fruits 
when old enough, and what vast quantities of fruits would they pro- 
duce in twenty years, sufficient to supply every family in town, and 
thousands to spare. The poor could pick and sell to our cities, and 
thus live comfortably, or at least be relieved from pinching want. 
What a vast blessing might be conferred on coming ages by a little 
pains on the part of a few. For one, I shall line the road that passes 
across my little farm in this manner, pro bono publico, and persuade 
all I can to do the same. Let all the believers in Phrenology do this, 
and long would posterity extol that science which prompted so wise- 
so philanthropic a deed. 

If it be objected, that in this case, each, eager to get his share, or 
perhaps all he can, will scramble for it before it is ripe, I answer, 
Have enough for all. If it be further objected, that the cattle will 
browse off the trees, I reply, Still, the trees will get above them, gra- 
dually to be sure, but ultimately. Or, they may be protected till above 
their reach. Or a town ordinance might easily exclude them from 
the streets. 

An additional motive for moving in this good cause, is to be found 
in the fact, that bread and fruit are the two main supporters of ani- 
mal life, or at least, the best. Bread is emphatically the staff of life — 
the very best article of diet that our earth produces. Fruit is most 
wholesome, besides being so very delicious. But it is the two united 
which constitutes the diet for man. A meal made of good home-made 
bread manufactured of flour not killed in being ground and bolted, 
eaten with first-rate apples, either raw, or baked, or stewed, or made 
into sauce, is the most palatable, the most wholesome, that can possi- 
bly be eaten. Few are aware of the fact, that a meal of this kind 
gives more gustatory pleasure in eating than a meal made up of any 
other sort of food. Fruit should always be eaten ivith meals, and as 
a part of them. The juice of fruit, either boiled down into a jelly, 
and eaten on bread in place of butter, or the juice of fruit with bread 



290 BENEVOLENCE SHOULD BE EXERCISED PROPERLY. 135 

crumbled into it, and eaten as we eat bread and milk, is most delicious, 
most wholesome. No better article of diet can be had. Butter is most 
injurious. A poor family need not starve, if they can get nothing else, 
especially if they had some handy press for mashing and pressing 
the fruit, say every day or two, as it is wanted for use, so that it 
need not ferment. The juice of all fruit after fermentation has taken 
place, is most injurious. But apples can easily be kept till straw- 
berries are ripe. Cherries, blackberries, currants, &c, last till early 
apples and peaches come again, and thus nature has so arranged it 
that we may have fruit the year round. Has the reader never ob- 
served how wholesome and palatable strawberries are to the sick, es- 
pecially to consumptive patients ? And if I had a consumptive patient 
in the strawberry season, I should order as many as the patient pleas- 
ed to eat. I should not only prescribe them in place of medicine, but 
as medicine. They will even effect cures where medicine will not. 
The diet above recommended, would prevent most our of sickness, by 
which so many are made poor, and would in nine cases out of ten 
restore health. 

An arrangement for raising abundance of bread-stuff might easily 
be made, or in its absence, potatoes, easily raised in any abundance, 
might be substituted, and thus the poor be relieved. 

Besides, there is such a thing as saving at the spigot, but letting it 
run out at the bung — as giving to the poor by littles, and yet allow- 
ing causes to remain in action — to even augment — which increase 
poverty by wholesale. Giving a shilling here, a dollar there, five 
dollars yonder, &c, may do a moiety of good ; but one well directed 
effort to obviate the cause of human suffering, will be productive of great- 
er results than thousands of acts of individual charity. For one, let my 
happy lot be to espy and point out these causes — to cut away at the 
root of this fruitful tree of human suffering, and ' c dig about and dung" 
the tree of humanity. 

Bearing on a kindred point, my brother, in his lecture on the mo- 
ral bearings of Phrenology, makes some excellent remarks on the 
proper exercise of this faculty; in illustration of which he tells the 
following story : — A medical student from the south, in going from 
New- York city to Pittsfield, Mass., gave away, in the form of treats 
mainly, seventy dollars — all he had ; so that he not had enough to pay 
his fare the last part of the way. Though he was so very generous, 
yet his liberality did more harm than good. He says, and with pro- 
priety, that men have yet to learn how to do good. In other words : 
there is much more benevolence in the world than is exercised pro- 



136 VIOLATIONS OP BENEVOLENCE. 291 

perly* To be effective, it must always be governed by intellect, and 
blend with all the other moral sentiments. 

We cannot be too careful how we occasion pain to our fellow-men, 
or even to brutes. We cannot be too assiduous to promote their hap- 
piness. We can never exercise enough of the kindly spirit, of good 
feeling, of gushing benevolence, in expression, in action. Let all who 
are at all affected by us, be the worse in nothing, be the better in many 
things, on our account. 

The reader must excuse another quotation or two from Education 
and Self-Improvement They are made because the ideas there pre- 
sented require to be inserted in this connexion, and because they might 
not gain by recomposition. 

" It should be added that the killing of animals, is directly calcu- 
lated to sear and weaken this faculty ; and should therefore rarely 
take place. Were a flesh diet productive of no other evil consequences 
than lowering down and hardening benevolence, that alone should 
forever annihilate so barbarous a practice.* Destructiveness should 
seldom be allowed to conflict with benevolence. The cruelties prac- 
ticed upon our animals that are slaughtered for the meat market, are 
sickening and incredible. See the poor calves, sheep, &c, tumbled 
together in the smallest possible space ; their limbs tied ; unfed, bel- 
lowing continually, and in a most piteous tone, their eyes rolled up in 
agony, taken to the slaughter-house, and whipped, or rather pelted 
by the hour with a most torturing instrument, and then strung up by 
the hind legs, a vein opened, and they dying by inches from the gra- 
dual loss of blood, the unnatural suspension, and cruel pelting — and 
all to make their meat white and tender. A friend of the author, 
who lived near one of those places of torment, blood, and stench, had 
his Benevolence, naturally very large, wrought up to its highest pitch 
of action, by the horrid groans and piteous exclamations of these 
dying animals, and was compelled to hear the blows with which they 
were beaten. At last he went to the butcher and remonstrated. This 
produced no effect He went again and threatened him, telling him 
that if he heard another groan from dying animals, he would make 
him groan, and in so positive a manner that the cruelties were aban- 
doned. To kill animals outright, is horrible, but words are inadequate 
to express the enormity of the refined cruelty now generally practiced 

* My brother's lecture on the moral bearings of Phrenology, is sweet, lovely, 
beyond almost any thing else I ever heard fall from the lips of man. Ite 
amalgamation with this work would greatly enhance its value. As yet, he has 
been unable to present it to the public in a printed form. 

t A young lady of high moral feelings, and predominant benevolence, seeing 
a calf led to the slaughter, urged and pleaded with her father to purchase it 
and spare its life. He did so. She never allows herself to eat anything that 
has ever had life in it, and this is right. 



292 KILLING OF ANIMALS BARBAROUS PRACTICES. 137 

upon helpless dumb beasts by these murderers of the brute creation. 
Look at the hideous and indescribably painful expression left on the 
heads of calves, sheep, hogs, &c, that we see in market, or see tum- 
bled into a cart for the glue manufacturer." 

Allow a short argument in reference to flesh eating. It is a clearly 
established principle of Phrenology, that no one faculty should ever 
be so exercised as to conflict with the leigtimate function of any 
other ; and that, wherever the exercise of two or more do thus come 
in contact, one of them is wrongly exercised. Is not this principle 
too self-evident to require argument, and too plain even to require 
illustration? But if either is wanted, the reader is referred to " Edu- 
cation," p. 157. Now sympathy for distress is one of the normal 
functions of benevolence. So is that pain consequent on witnessing 
distress which cannot be relieved, or beholding death, or the killing 
of animals. In short, to kill animals without wounding benevolence 
— without cruelly tormenting it — is utterly impossible. Nothing but 
killing human beings is equally painful. And now I submit to every 
reflecting mind, whether it is possible to butcher animals for food 
without thus calling benevolence into painful action 1 But this pain- 
ful action of any organ, and especially of so high an organ, is wrong. 
Therefore is the killing of animals wrong. Or thus : The exercise 
of destructiveness, in killing animals for the table, necessarily comes 
in direct and powerful conflict with the normal function of benevo- 
lence. This quarrelling of the faculties gives us pain, and is there- 
fore wrong. Hence, meat as an article of diet conflicts with the na- 
ture of man. 

Now; since the killing of animals violates the nature of man, some 
great evil must grow out of it ; for we cannot break nature's laws, 
without experiencing pain, and that too in the direct line of the trans- 
gression.* And I think it would not be difficult to show wherein — 
how — flesh eating punishes the transgressor. But as diatetics do 
not come within the sphere of this work, having stated the principle, 
I leave it, for the present at least. 

"Another barbarous practice against which Phrenology loudly 
exclaims, is shooting birds. This is, if possible, still worse, especially 
when the little warblers are of no service after being killed. To kill 
them suddenly by a shot, is not particularly barbarous, because they 
suffer little, and only lose the pleasure of living ; but to kill them 
from the love of killing, must harden the heart and sear benevolence 
beyond measure. Its influence on the cruel perpetrator, is the mai» 

* See Education, p. 21. 



138 THE PRINCIPLE OF GIVING TO PROMOTE RELIGION. 293 

motive I urge. Another motive is, do not kill birds of song ; for you 
thereby deprive your fellow-men of the great amount of pleasure de- 
rived from listening to their warblings. And then again, they feed 
on worms and insects, and thereby preserve vegetation. I doubt not 
but much of that destruction of wheat, of late so general and fatal to 
the wheat crop, would be prevented by an abundance and variety of 
birds. In other words, take heed to the monitions of benevolence, 
and commit no cruelties, but scatter happiness in all your path, and 
you will be the happier, and greatly augment the happiness of all 
concerned." 

The exercise of benevolence in connection with veneration, is 
par excellence* a doctrine of Phrenology, as it also is of the Bible. 
To do good is our duty, our privilege ; but to do good by promoting 
the cause of morality and virtue, is one of our highest moral duties — 
one of our greatest personal pleasures. We should try to make our 
fellow-men happier by making them better, — should seek their spiri- 
tual good more, even than their temporal. This is the very highest 
exercise of benevolence, which is one of the largest organs and high- 
est faculties of man. This principle is plain in its application, and 
yet multifarious. 

" Above all things, this enlarged kindness is the duty and privilege 
of Christianity. But do professors live up to this law of their Lord 
and Master, who "went about doing good." They, of all others, 
should not go about with their gold spectacles, riding in their splen- 
did carriages, living in palaces, furnished after the manner of princes, 
and then begging money to spread the gospel among the heathen. 
Away with your proud Christianity (?) — your aristocratical Chris- 
tianity, your I-am-better-than-thou — oecause-1-am-rich — Christianity ; 
your money-making and money-hoarding or miserly Christianity. 
As well talk about hot ice, or cold fire, or honest rascality, as talk 
about rich Christians, fashionably dressed Christians, or Christians 
who do not spend their all, their time, property, energies, and life, 
in doing good, and in the exercise of the sentiments, f 

Remarks on missionary operations would be in place here. The 
principle of giving, to promote religion, Phrenology demonstrates — 
enforces. But it sees much in these foreign and domestic missionary 
societies to censure. Still, every reader can judge for himself as well 
as others can for him, when he knows as much about them. 
Those missionaries who have left the American Board, have not done 
so wholly without cause. That Board dictates quite too much. Be- 
sides ; it was established, and is now conducted, to propagate secta- 
rianism, as much, perhaps, as any thing else. If Phrenologists would 

* Pre-eminently. t Education and Self-Improvement. 



294 CULTIVATE KINDLY FEELINGS. 139 

form a society, to send out missionaries to teach Phrenology simply, 
" without note or comment," more good and less harm would be the 
result ; for not even the heathen could long know how to find the "^ 
organs, without moralizing thereon, and deducing inferences as to 
how we should live, the nature of man, and the opinions and conduct 
that harmonize therewith, and are therefore right, &c. If the Ame- 
rican Board would introduce pure Christianity, they would do im- 
mense good. But they propagate a strange mixture of truth and error, 
along with those false tastes and habits of civilized, artificial, unnatu- 
ral life, which cannot fail to do more harm than their mongrel Chris- 
tianity will do goofl. In these views, very many excellent religious 
men concur ; and more would do so if they knew more, and were 
deceived less. 

Much as might be said upon this faculty, we will dismiss it with 
the remark, that the kindly, benevolent spirit just commended, would 
do more to banish crime than all the laws, lawyers, courts, civil officers, 
jails, prisons, penitentiaries and executions on earth. The punish- 
ment of crime will be treated under Conscienciousness. Its preven- 
tion is infinitely better, and can be effected by kindness and philan- 
thropy, a thousand times more effectually than by all the means now 
in operation. Let criminals discover a kindly spirit in the commu- 
nity as a whole, and they could not have a heart to commit offences 
against its laws or its happiness. Kindness will kill enmity ; will 
kill lawlessness ; will kill the revengeful spirit, and implant the same 
good feeling in the souls of those who otherwise would be pests to 
society. 

Let us all, then, cultivate the kindly. Let it shine forth in all we 
say, in all we do, in all we feel. Harshness, severity, invective, are 
not Phrenology, — are not Christianity, — are the ascendancy of the 
propensities over benevolence, which is forbidden by the Bible, — for- 
bidden by Phrenology. It intercepts our own happiness ; — it does 
not promote that of our fellow-men. The law of love is the law of 
the nature of man, — the law of Christ. The mantle of charity cov- 
ereth a multitude of sins. It will hide our sins from others. It will 
hide the sins of others from us. It will put the best construction on 
their errors, not the worst. It is the greatest of the Christian virtues. 
It is the distinguishing feature of all the works of God. To promote 
happiness is the end of creation. And shall not we do by others as 
God has done by us ? Shall we not evince our gratitude for the con- 
tinual shower of blessings he is pouring out upon us, by doing what 
we can to promote the happiness of others ? Infinite are our own 

i&y. - - * 



140 CONSCIENTIOUSNESS. ITS ANALYSIS AND BEARINGS. 295 

capacities for enjoyment, and God does continually all that a God can 
do, to fill them to the full. Let us imitate our Heavenly Father in 
this labor of love. Let us second his great design in creation ; for in 
so doing, we shall be co-workers with God, be even like God. Glo- 
rious, this opportunity of doing good. Let every day, every hour, find 
us employed in this great work — the work of God — the work of man ! 



CHAPTER VL 

CONSCIENTIOUSNESS—ITS ANALYSIS AND BEARINGS. 

SECTION I. 

CONSCIENCE INNATE. 

Innate sense of moral accountability ; integrity of motive ; perception of right 
and wrong, and feeling that right is rewardable, and wrong punishable; 
sense of moral obligation ; love of justice, truth, and right, as such ; regard 
for duty, promises, &c. ; desire for moral purity, and blamelessness of con- 
duct : that internal moral monitor which approves the right, and condemns 
the wrong; gratitude for favors ; sense of guilt ; penitence for sin ; contrition: 
desire to reform ; disposition to forgive the penitent. 

" Thrice armed is he who hath his quarrel JUST." — Shak. 

So constituted is the human mind, that it regards — that it cannot 
hut regard — most of our feelings, actions, expressions, conduct — that 
we do and say, or are capable of doing and saying — as either right 
or wrong. True, it regards some things as destitute of moral charac- 
ter, because done without motive, or by accident, or prompted by de- 
rangement, &c. ; but these form so small a portion of their aggregate 
as to deserve mention merely. As we look upon some things as re- 
putable, and others as disgraceful ; upon some as dangerous, and 
others as safe ; upon some as beautiful, and others as deformed ; some 
as past, others as present ; some as ludicrous, others as serious : some 
as causes, others as effects, &c. ; so we consider — cannot help consi- 
dering — most that we do, say, feel, as right or wrong ; and that per se 
— on its own account, and in its very nature and constitution. Desti- 
tute of this faculty, the soul of man would be wanting in its brightest 
jewel, its crowning excellence. Let a human being be endowed with 
the talents of a Webster, a Franklin, a Bacon, but be destitute of mo- 



296 CONSCIENCE INNATE. 141 

ral principle, he deserves but contempt ; for he employs them to fur- 
ther what is wrong as soon as what is right ; to serve his propensities, 
to injure mankind, to augment his own sinfulness and misery. How 
changed ! when those talents are governed by high-toned moral prin- 
ciple — are employed to subserve the cause of justice ; to oppose what- 
ever is wrong, and urge on what is right ! How infinitely more ex- 
alted the character, more beneficial the conduct ! 

Not only do these perceptions and feelings of right and wrong ex- 
ist, but they are innate. Not creatures of education. Not fitful, but 
permanent. In-wrought into the very nature and constitution of the 
human soul, and forming a prominent department thereof. Pervad- 
ing, and almost governing, the whole human family, in all condi- 
tions and countries, in all past ages, in all coming time. Man feels 
it, and knows it, that there is a right and a wrong in the very nature 
and constitution of things. 

And not only are these feelings constitutional, but man intuitively 
feels that the right must govern, and the wrong be discarded. Nor is 
this feeling of moral obligation a tame, passive element, that simply 
whispers this moral sentiment gently in the ears. But it is clothed with 
authority, and felt to be imperious. Strong, doubly armed, is he 
whose conscience sanctions all he does.; but faint and feeble is he who 
feels that he is wrong. Barely able to hold up his head, and power- 
less in all he says and does. Conscience is designed to govern. It 
is the primier of the human soul, while all the other faculties are but 
representatives or subjects. Its edicts constitute the supreme law of 
the man. Its prohibitions are imperative, inexorable. 

The existence of this moral sense has always and every where 
been admitted, but its innateness has long been a subject of universal 
discussion. Its advocates urge its innateness from its universality, 
and appeal to every one whether he is not conscious of its existence ; 
whether his own soul does not feel its internal monitions daily and 
continually, while its opposers aver that it is wholly the creature of 
education, as is evinced by the diversified and even conflicting opin- 
ions of men as to what is right, arguing that men think and practice 
in this matter as they are taught. Phrenology, however, demons- 
trates that man has, by nature, an innate faculty, which forms a part 
and parcel of his original nature, the specific function of which is 
to create the sentiments of right and wrong ; and to approve the right, 
and condemn the wrong, and accounts for this diversity of opinion as 
;to right and wrong, by showing that men's opinions and practices as 
«to right and wrong vary as their phrenological developments difleT. 



142 CONSCIENTIOUSNESS. ACCOUNTABILITY OF MAN. 297 

While, therefore, this fact completely overthrows the doctrine that con- 
science is the creature of education, it fully establishes the fact that 
conscience is innate — that every man has, by nature, an internal 
monitor to accuse him when he does wrong, to approve him when 
he does right, to warn him against committing sin, and to entice him 
into the paths of virtue and happiness. 

Phrenology even goes farther. By pointing out the existence of 
this primary sentiment of right and justice in the soul of man, 
it proves, beyond all cavil and controversy, the existence of certain 
primary, abstract principles of right and moral fitness, lying back 
in the very nature and constitution of things, and forming a consti- 
tuent part of that nature, to which this faculty in man is adapted. 
Under the head of veneration, (p. 46,) it was shown that the existence 
of one thing and its being adapted to another, proved the existence of 
the other. That same argument, " mutatis mutandis," or changing 
it from veneration to conscientiousness, shows that the latter, by being 
adapted to right, proves the existence of certain great and first prin- 
ciples of eternal right and justice, founded in, and forming a part of, 
the original nature and constitution of things. It proves that some 
things are right and others wrong, in themselves, — in their very na- 
ture and essence. This adaptation of conscientiousness to these first 
principles of right, is indisputable, and even demonstrative : therefore, 
these primary principles of right exist, adapted to this organ in man. 

More and better. Besides establishing the innateness of conscience 
and the consequent existence of right and wrong in themselves, 
Phrenology also demonstrates the moral accountability of man, and, 
therefore, that he is a fit subject of rewards and punishments. As 
the existence in man of eyes, both constitutes him a seeing being, and 
also proves him to be such : — as the fact of his having lungs, both 
renders him a breathing being and proves him to be such ; the exis- 
tence of a stomach, both makes him a digesting being, and proves 
conclusively that he is such ; the existence of bones and muscles, a 
moving being ; of teeth, a masticating being ; of the social faculties, 
a social being ; of the intellectual elements, an intellectual being ; of 
the reasoning faculties, a reasoning being, and so of all his other 
primary powers— so the fact that he possesses the organ and faculty 
of conscientiousness both constitutes and renders him a moral and an 
accountable being, and deserving of rewards and punishments, at the 
same time that it conclusively proves him to be such. No proof is 
stronger. It is demonstration, and in the fullest, strongest sense of 
the term. Proof that appeals to the senses is not stronger. The fact 



298 THE PRINCIPLE OF RIGHT AND WRONG. 143 

that mankind exist, is not more fully, certainly established by our 
seeing them, than the truth of Phrenology being- admitted, is the fact 
that man is a moral, accountable, rewardable, punishable being, ren- 
dered incontestable, demonstration, certain. If required to prove 
that man was constitutionally a seeing being, and not so by education, 
I should be unwise to aigue the point, but simply appeal to the fact that 
he is created with eyes — a kind of ad hominem home proof, which 
it is impossible to gainsay or resist. The highest order of proof that 
reason is innate rather than taught, is the fact that man possesses ori- 
ginal elements of reason. The human mind is so constituted that it 
cannot possibly resist or evade this kind of proof, any more than it 
can resist the evidence of the senses. It is, in fact, proof drawn from 
the senses, and founded on them ; for we see that he has originally 
a primary organ and faculty of conscience. We also see its workings. 
We see that he possesses the primary power of conscience, just as we 
see that he possesses the primary elements of walking ; and we also 
see and feel the workings of this faculty, just as we see and know 
that he walks and talks. If his having feet proves him to be a 
walking being ; his possession of lungs, a breathing being ; of a sto- 
mach, a nutritive being ; of eyes, a seeing being ; of causality, a 
reasoning being ; of sexes, a sexual being ; of benevolence, a humane 
being ; of veneration, a devotional being ; of language, a communi- 
cative being, then does the existence in him of conscientiousness prove 
him to be a moral, accountable, rewardable, punishable being. Ma- 
thematical demonstration is not clearer, stronger, more demonstrative, 
ad hominem, infallible, than is this species of reasoning. Indeed, 
whoever rejects its conclusions, is incapable of reasoning — incapable 
of arriving at any conclusions, or knowing any thing whatever ; and 
as such, he is unworthy of notice. 

How unjust, then, the accusation that Phrenology establishes fatal- 
ism, when it overthrows that doctrine, and establishes the moral ac- 
countability of man ! And if any thing were wanting to complete 
this argument, the fact that there is an organ of will, (the lower por- 
tion of self-esteem,) goes, if possible, still farther ; and the two toge- 
ther establish the additional doctrine, not only that he is a moral and 
accountable being, but also free to choose, will, decide, and act for 
himself; which completes his punishability as well as accountability. 
Those, therefore, who accuse Phrenology of favoring fatalism, are 
either ignorant or bigoted. So far from it, it even furnishes this mora! 
accountability of man, to the Christian already proved — as clearly 
demonstrated as any proposition in geometry. Receive it, then. At 



144 MORAL ACCOUNTABILITY OF MAN. 299 

least stop tnese clamorous imputations. Let it also be remembered, 
that under the head of veneration, by proving the existence of a God, 
Atheism was proved to be false ; of marvellousness, the immateriality 
or the spirituality of the soul was proved ; and of hope, a future state 
of being was also proved to exist. No refutation of these objections 
can be more complete, and even demonstrative. 

To every reflecting reader, I have now two points to submit. First, 
whether the innateness of conscience, and the moral accountability of 
man, has not been set completely at rest by being demonstrated, as we 
would demonstrate that two and two make four. Secondly, whether 
the accusation that Phrenology leads to fatalism, is not most unjust 
and even reprehensible ; for if those who bring it, do not know enough 
about it to know better, they know nothing about it, and should say 
nothing ; but if they do Know better, they are actually culpable. So 
that whoever brings it, is censurable, and should be esteemed the less 
therefore. Nor will it be long before this will be the case. 



SECTION II. 

THE NATURE AND RATIONALE OF RIGHT AND WRONG J OR THE FOUN- 
DATION OF MORAL OBLIGATION. 

Having established the moral accountability of man, and the exis- 
tence of first principles of right and wrong, two questions naturally 
present themselves to the reflecting mind. Since the quality of right 
and wrong necessarily appertain to our opinions, conduct, expressions, 
feelings, &c. 

First : What things are right, and what wrong, that we may choose 
the former, but refuse the latter. 

Secondly : Why is that right which is right, and wherefore is that 
wrong which is wrong? In what does this quality consist ? In what 
fundamental principles is it based ? What are the constitutional ele- 
ments of right and wrong ; of sin and holiness ; of virtue and vice ? 

Though the first question naturally comes first, yet its answer de- 
pends upon that given to the latter question. Hence, the last shall be 
discussed first. 

In July, 1843, the author listened to an able discourse, preached by 
the Rev. Mr. Culver, of the Tremont Temple, Boston, from the text ; 



300 THE NATURE OF RIGHT AND WRONG. 145 

" Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all 
thy soul, and with all thy mind,*" in which he urged that the com- 
mand of God constituted the ground-work of right, and his prohibi- 
tion, that of wrong ; — that the Jews were commanded on certain occa- 
sions, to sacrifice a white heifer, not because a white heifer was 
better than one of any other color, not because there was any fitness 
in a white heifer moie than in others ; but simply, solely because God 
commanded a white heifer to be sacrificed ; — that baptism by immer- 
sion was right — not because there was any inherent virtue, either in it 
itself, or in it more than in sprinkling ; but simply, wholly, because 
Christ commanded it — that we should love God supremely, and our 
neighbors as ourselves, for no other reason whatever than because 
God commanded it ; — that a " Thus saith the Lord" was what consti- 
tuted that right, which was right, — that wrong, which it prohibited, and 
not the nature of the thing commanded. And my impression is, that 
this is the doctrine maintained by the great majority of ministers and 
laymen. 

But, from this doctrine Phrenology dissents in toto. It shows that 
the Tightness of right, and the wrong of wrong, are constitutional, 
being based in the very nature and fitness of things, without any 
reference to either command or prohibition of God on the one hand, 
or to the want of them on the other. Suppose it possible for God to 
command that which was wrong in itself; — suppose it wrong in the 
very nature of things for a man to seize a virgin by force, carry her 
off by main strength, and compel her to live with him in opposition 
to her wishes, such a course being repugnant to her, besides sundering 
those social ties that bound parents to her and her to the home of her 
youth, would that command render it right — render any thing right 
that is wrong in itself- — necessarily constitutionally wrong ? I trow 
not. Phrenology shows, as fully, conclusively as it shows any thing 
— and we have seen that this is perfectly demonstrative, and from 
precisely the same data, that the right is right, and the wrong is wrong ; 
not at all because commanded or forbidden by God, but solely, wholly, 
because so by constitution, — by nature, in and of itself, and without 
any reference whatever to the commands or prohibitions of God. If 
things are rendered right or wrong by the word of God merely, then 
are there many things which are right constitutionally, but wrong 
in fact ; and others wrong by nature, but right by command ; while 
the great majority of our every day feelings and doings are destitute 
of all moral character, because neither commanded or forbidden, at 

* Matt, xxii, 39. 



146 RIGHT AND WRONG ARE RENDERED SO BY THEIR EFFECTS. 301 

least explicitly. How can a fiat of the Bible render any thing right 
or wrong, good or bad, not right or wrong, good or bad, in and of 
itself? Is it possible for a command of the Bible to alter, add to, ab- 
rogate, one iota of the original constitutionality of right aud wrong ? 
This would be to array the Bible against nature — against even the 
fundamentals of that nature. It would make the Bible say, " Obser- 
ving this ordinance, is right, as a moral duty obligatory upon every 
member of the human family, from the moment of its institution ; its 
neglect wrong, sinful, punishable ;" while the voice of nature responds : 
" No such thing. There is no right or wrong about it either way." 
I caution believers in the Bible not to array it against nature, for the 
latter will not yield one hair's breadth to the former, and what is more, 
what is most, nothing will equally lower the estimation of the Bible 
in intelligent minds, or more effectually advance infidelity. 

It requires considerable patience even to argue a point so pal- 
pably fallacious in itself, and so directly in the teeth of the nature 
of man. The fact of the existence of the faculty of conscientiousness 
as an innate, primary element of the human mind, proves both the 
existence of right and wrong, and also their constitutionality — that 
they are so of necessity and in their own inherent nature, not by the 
requirements of the Scriptures. Though the Deity commands us to 
do what is right, and forbids us to do what is wrong ; yet, things are 
right and wrong in and of themselves and prior to all command, 
independently of all prohibition. Phrenology demonstrates this point 
in and with its demonstration of the existence of conscience. The 
two necessarily go together. They can never be separated without 
doing violence. 

To argue the point, that things are often rendered right or wrong 
by legislation, by law, &c, such as that hanging is right when it is 
legal, and because of its legality, — because we are commanded to 
obey our rulers, &c, is folly ; for he whose conscience is so weak as 
to imbibe such a doctrine has not sufficient conscience to yield assent 
to the right when he knows it. And yet, there are those, and those 
too who have considerable influence, weak enough, intellectually as 
well as morally, to advocate a doctrine that strips right of all its high 
and holy sanctions, and makes it a mere thing — a mere play-thing, 
even — with which mortals may tamper and even sport — a perfect 
weather-vane, shifting continually with every shift of legislation, how- 
ever corrupt. 

But, to the point : Why is the right, right % Wherefore is the wrong, 
wrong % I answer : They are rendered so by their consequences — by 



302 HAPPINESS IS THE OBJECT OP MAN'S CREATION. 147 

their effects on the happiness and the misery of ourselves and others. 
This is rendered evident, by that fundamental principle on which 
every department of the nature of man proceeds. That principle is 
happiness. I will not here illustrate this doctrine in detail. The 
reader will find it run out in part in the few first pages of " Education 
and Self-Improvement." It is there shown, that the fundamental basis 
of the nature of man — the only end, object, function, and entire con- 
stitution of every organ of the body, every faculty of the mind, every 
element of our nature, is happiness, all happiness, and nothing but 
happiness. As this is an important point, the reader must pardon an- 
other quotation from "Education and Self-Improvement," p. 13, in 
which this fundamental principle is, perhaps, expressed better than it 
could be if re- written. 

" That Happiness is the sole object of Man's creation, is rendered 
evident by its being the only legitimate product of every organ of his 
body, of every faculty of his mind, of every element of his nature. 
What but happiness is the end sought and obtained in the creation of 
every bone, of every joint, of every muscle ? — happiness in their exer- 
cise, happiness in locomotion, labor, &c, and happiness in the results 
obtained by this motion. What but pleasure is the legitimate func- 
tion of the eye ? — the most exquisite pleasure in the exercise of sight 
itself, and an inexhaustible fund of happiness in the ends attained by 
seeing — in its enabling us to find our way, and in pouring into the 
mind a vast fund of information, and also furnishing an inexhaustible 
range of materials for thought and mental action. What but enjoy- 
ment is the end sought and secured by the creation of lungs? — enjoy- 
ment in breathing freely the fresh air of heaven, and enjoyment in 
the expenditure of that vitality furnished thereby ; few realizing the 
amount of pleasure capable of being taken in quaffing luxuriantly 
and abundantly the health-inspiring breeze ! What other object than 
pleasure dictated the creation of the stomach? — pleasure in the act of 
digestion, and pleasure in the expenditure of those vital energies pro- 
duced thereby. And what is the object sought and obtained in the 
creation of the brain and nervous system — what but happiness is the 
only legitimate product of their primitive function? — happiness in 
their exercise itself, and inexhaustible happiness in that boundless 
range of mental and moral ends secured by their creation. 

Narrowing down our observations to the mental faculties, we find 
the same sole end sought and obtained by the creation of each one 
separately, and all collectively. Benevolence was created both to pour 
the oil of consolation into the wounded heart, to avoid occasions of 
pain, and to beautify and bless mankind ; and also to pour still greater 
blessings into the soul of the giver ; for, it is even " more blessed to 
give than to receive." Parental love, while it renders the parent hap- 
py in providing for darling infancy and lovely childhood, also renders 
the child most happy in receiving the blessings showered down upon 



148 MAN WAS MADE TO BE PERFECTLY HAPPY. 303 

it by this happifying faculty. The legitimate function of ideality is 
pleasure ; both in contemplating the beautiful and the exquisite in na- 
ture and in art, and also in refining and purifying all the grosser ele- 
ments of our nature, and softening and gracing all our conduct. Ac- 
quisitiveness was created to afford pleasure, both in the mere acquisi. 
tion of property, edibles, and the comforts and conveniences of life ; 
and also to furnish all the other faculties with the means of gratifica- 
tion : appetite, with food ; benevolence, with the means of bestowing 
charity ; cautiousness, with instruments of defence ; the social feel- 
ings, with comforts for the family ; inhabitiveness, with a home ; con- 
structiveness, with tools, farming utensils, &c. ; intellect, with books, 
philosophical apparatus, and the means of prosecuting the study of 
nature and her laws, &c. Appetite, while it gives us gustatory plea- 
sure in paTtaking of food, also furnishes the stomach with the mate- 
rials required for manufacturing that nourishment and strength with- 
out which every enjoyment would be cut off, and life itself soon cease. 
Causality was created, not only to produce the richest harvest of plea- 
sure in studying the laws and operations of nature, but also, that we 
might adapt ways and means to ends, and secure our own highest 
good, by applying the laws of causation to the production of whatever 
results we might desire. The legitimate function of language is to 
furnish a World of pleasure, merely in the act of talking, and then to 
add to it that inexhaustible fountain of happiness which flows from 
imparting and receiving knowledge, ideas, motives for action, &c, 
and in reading, in hearing lectures, sermons, &c, &c. Memory en- 
ables us to recollect what gave us pleasure, and what pain, that we 
might repeat the former and avoid the latter ; that we might remember 
faces, places, numbers, &c, and recall our knowledge at pleasure, so 
as to apply it to beneficial purposes. Veneration naturally gives us 
pleasure, both in worshipping God, and in those holy, purifying 
influences which prayer sheds abroad in the soul. The same princi- 
ple applies to Friendship, to Connubial Love, to Ambition, to Perse- 
verance, to Sense of Justice, to Hope, to Imitation, and to every other 
element of the human mind. I repeat : The legitimate function 
every physical organ, of every mental faculty, of every element of 
of man, is happiness, all happiness, pure, unalloyed, unmitigated 
happiness, and nothing else. Man was made solely to be happy, to 
be perfectly happy, and for that alone. — Nor does the needle point 
to its pole more uniformly and certainly, than does every part of man 
point to this one result. No truth can be more plain, more universal, 
more self-evident." 

I call upon all who doubt this great truth, to specify a single organ, 
faculty, function, any thing, of the nature of man, of which this is not 
the palpable, self-evident fact. No truth is more apparent. It runs 
throughout all nature. It is the substratum of every thing belonging 
to the nature of man. 



304 WHATEVER IS RIGHT IS PROMOTIVE OF HAPPINESS. 149 

Right, of course, then, harmonizes with this great arrangement of 
nature, is founded in it, is designed to carry it out. Wrong conflicts 
therewith, and violates it. And whatever does conflict therewith, (that 
is, whatever occasions pain,) is wrong, and wrong because of this con- 
flict — because it causes pain. So, also, whatever harmonizes with it, 
(that is, whatever causes happiness,) is right, and right because it pro- 
duces pleasure — because it fulfils not merely a law, but the law — all 
the laws in one — of the primitive nature and constitution of man. 

How this principle can be controverted, I see not. So constituted 
is the human mind as to see, and feel, that the normal action of every 
department of its nature is pleasure, and pleasure only ; and that all 
pain proceeds from — is caused by — a violation of that nature. It is 
also so constituted as to see that right consists in obeying the laws of 
our being, and wrong in their violation, as well as that their observ- 
ance is right — their infraction wrong. Put these two points together, 
and the result is clear, satisfactory, that the fundamental basis of right, 
— its rationale, the reason why right is right, is — the happiness that 
flows therefrom — the furtherance of the end of our being occasioned 
thereby ; it amounting to the same thing as an augmentation, or in- 
crease, of ourselves, namely, happiness. And, per contra, the reason 
why wrong is wrong, is, that it violates, or counteracts, that nature — 
mars the work of God, by inducing suffering. 

One phase more of this argument : That whatever is right, is pro- 
motive of happiness, no one will for a moment deny, and, vice versa, 
that whatever is promotive of happiness, is right, as well as that the 
opposite is true as to wrong. Otherwise, the nature of man is at war 
with happiness ; and nature, with nature. And what is more, happi- 
ness and right, on the one hand, and suffering and sinfulness on the 
other, stand related to each other in the light of cause and effect. That 
either obedience to law, that is, virtue, causes happiness, or else that 
virtue is caused by, or else consists in, obedience to law, and, per con- 
tra, that the violation of law, (that is, sinfulness,) causes pain, or else 
that sinfulness is caused by suffering, is self-evident, from the fact, that 
the one is the cause, and the other the effect The first impression is, 
that obedience to law is the cause, and happiness the effect. But why 
is obedience the cause? To secure the effect, (happiness,) of course. 
Hence, it is self-evident, that it is this effect, (namely, happiness,) that 
governs. Right would not be right if it did not secure this effect. 
Hence, as happiness governs virtue, it of course is the cause of virtue. 
The contrary is true of pain and sinfulness. In sinning, or disobey- 
ing law, we suffer in order to make us obey. To avoid suffering, is 



150 MAN HAS A NATURAL APTITUDE FOR PLEASURE. 305 

the governing motive, and not merely or mainly to avoid doing wrong, 
per se. Wrong in itself, and aside from the suffering it causes, is a 
matter of little account. It is to escape suffering that constitutes the 
governing motive, so that it is this suffering which governs, and, 
therefore, becomes the cause and the essence of the sinfulness of sin. 

Finally, and mainly : Man has a natural aptitude for pleasure, and 
a natural shrinking from pain. This arrangement of his nature, is 
the whole of him — all there is in him, and of him, and about him. 
This is the git and quintessence of his entire constitution, and of every 
adaptation, and organ, and function, of which he is composed. This 
is the neucleus. Every thing else in him, and of him, is attached to 
— is gathered on this. Along with that of all his other elements, it 
forms the centre of right and wrong. Right and wrong, like every 
thing else, are dovetailed into — framed upon — this standard, this foun- 
dation timber, of the man. Hence, right becomes right when, and 
because, it squares and plums with this standard : and wrong becomes 
wrong solely in consequence of its deviating therefrom. In short, 
the pith and summary of the whole argument, is simply this : Happi- 
ness, along with suffering as its natural antagonist, forms the govern- 
ing principle or element of the nature of man. This governing prin- 
ciple of his nature, of course governs reason, friendship, appetite, praise, 
censure, kindness, connubial and parental love, truth, refinement, vul- 
garity, hope, fear, virtue, sinfulness, right, wrong, sin, holiness, good- 
ness, badness — the whole of man, and, by consequence, becomes the 
cause, and the rationale, of them all, right and wrong, goodness and 
badness, of course included. 

To take a few examples : — It is right that we exercise benevolence. 
But, why right? Simply, because that, by so doing, we further the 
end of our creation — enjoyment — both our own, and that of the fellow- 
being whom we help. Nor is there any other reason why it is right 
to exercise it. There is but one other possible reason why it is right ; 
and that is, the command or will of God, to which we shall come pre- 
sently. The opposite holds true of causing pain. To cause suffering 
for the sake of causing it, is wrong. This, all admit. But, why wrong 1 
Because it retards the end of creation by producing its opposite. Nor 
is there any other reason why it is wrong to inflict pain as such. 

It is right to eat. It is our bounden duty. It is wrong to starve. 
But, why ? Solely because not eating causes pain to ourselves and 
others, which does violence to this fundamental law of our nature — the 
law of happiness. Our eating does not effect the Deity. We cannot 
offend Him by not eating. Nor by eating too much. He is infinitely 



306 HOW MAN?S CONDUCT STANDS IN RELATION TO HIS GOD. 151 

above all influences which it is possible for mortals to exert. To sup- 
pose it possible for our sinfulness to affect the Almighty, is to degrade 
him by putting him upon a par with man ! I am loath to argue a 
point so self-evident. 1 can hardly believe that any intelligent mind 
really entertains such an idea, except by tradition, or from supersti- 
tion. Certainly not from intellect. Its absurdity could be easily de- 
monstrated, but to state it is refutation sufficient. It is at war with 
every principle of common sense — at war with the Bible, which saith : 
— " Can a man be profitable unto God, as he that is wise may be profit- 
able unto himself? Is it any pleasure to the Almighty, that thou art 
righteous ? Or, is it gain to him, that thou makest thy ways perfect?" 
— Job xxii. 2, 3. "If thou sinnest, what doest thou against him? or, 
if thy transgressions be multiplied, what doest thou unto him ? If 
thou be righteous, what givest thou to him ? or, what receiveth he of 
thine hand ? Thy wickness may hurt a man as thou art ; and thy 
righteousness may profit the son of man." — Job xxxv. 6, 7, 8. " What 
is man, that thou art mindful of him," &c. &c. 

If by sinning against God be meant simply a breach of his laws, 
— the laws of nature, then may man be truly said to sin against God, 
but not in the sense of offending him literally. Man can indeed 
break the law of God ; because all the laws of our being may be 
considered as laws of God ; and man being capable of obeying and 
breaking these laws, he is, of course, capable of obeying or of dis- 
obeying God. In this sense, but in no other, does the conduct of 
mortals stand related to their God. J 

But, to proceed with our illustrations : It is right to worship God 
in spirit and in truth, not at all because our righteousness affects the 
Almighty, or our impiety injures him, but simply because in so doing 
we secure to our own souls the beneficial effects of our prayer. 
Prayer softens down the propensities, subdues the soul, elevates the 
higher faculties, and makes us happy. Therefore it is right, but not 
because it in the least affects the Deity. It is wrong to take the name 
of God in vain, not because profanity injures the Almighty, but be- 
cause it renders the swearer unhappy, by debasing his feelings, 
cultivating the propensities, searing the moral sentiments, and thus 
rendering him and those affected thereby miserable. It is right to 
keep our word ; because a liar is not to be believed though he speak 
the truth, and therefore loses all the advantages of confidence ; but 
he who keeps his word inviolate, his character spotless, his credit 
good, reaps all the benefits of thus fulfilling this law of his being, 
(and they are many and great,) besides rendering his fellow-men 



152 ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE PRINCIPLES OF RIGHT AND WRONG. 307 

happy in so doing ; whereas he who does not regard his promises 
occasions pain to his fellow-men. It is the pain consequent on disho- 
nesty, a "breach of truth, promises, &c, which constitutes them wrong. 
And the more pain they occasion, the more wicked they are. So 
murder is a most heinous crime, because it occasions so much misery 
so much to the one deprived of life and all its blessings, to his family 
or friends, to community, besides it so effectually hardens the heart 
of its wicked perpetrator. So of stealing. So of every crime that 
can be named. 

We might thus take up one after another, any and all of the laws 
of our being, physical or moral, and show that the heinousness of 
their violation consisted in the pain consequent on such enfraction ; 
that the virtue of their obedience consisted in the happiness caused 
thereby. But this is unnecessary ; for if this is the case of one, it is 
so of all. To the principle alone reference is had ; and if that prin- 
ciple applies to the above illustrations, it applies to all illustrations — 
to all possible shades and phases of both sin and holiness. 

If to this it be objected, that it is motive alone which constitutes the 
virtue or the sinfulness of acts, I answer : This has nothing whatever 
to do with the nature of right and wrong. We are now discussing 
the constituent elements of right and wrong. Motive may make an 
action, which is right in itself, wrong in the doer, or one wrong in 
itself, right in the doer. Thus, in attempting to deceive or wrong my 
neighbor, I might do him an actual favor. My wrong intention might 
make it wrong in me, and yet the act done did not eventuate in wrong 
to him, but the reverse. Or, if in attempting to shoot a furious bull 
which was tearing my friend in pieces, I should shoot my friend, I 
should do wrong, while I meant right. This killing my neighbor is 
wrong in itself, but not wrong to me, because done by accident. Still, 
this is foreign from the real point under discussion ; namely, the con- 
stituent elements of right and wrong, in and of themselves. The 
question of motive will be discussed hereafter. 

This principle, that the nature of right and wrong is founded in 
the pleasure or pain consequent thereon, does not tally with the prin- 
ciple of deism, which maintains that there is no such thing as right 
and wrong in the abstract ; for it demonstrates that there is a right, 
a wrong, in itself— in the abstract — in its own nature, and in the 
nature of things. This difference is fundamental — as toto ccelo as 
the admission of the principle of a conscience is from its total denial — 
as the admission of the existence of right and wrong per se is different 
from its denial. This doctrine enforces the moral accountrbility of 



308 THERE IS CONSTITUTIONALLY A RIGHT AND A WRONG. 153 

man. That denies it. In short ; light does not differ from darkness, 
or heat from cold, more than this deistical doctrine of no right, no 
wrong, does from the phrenological doctrine of the existence of both, 
per se. Touching the morality, the accountability, and the punish- 
ability of men, it makes all the difference of a positive and a negative. 

To Christianity, this principle, that conscience is innate, as well as 
the one that right is right in its very nature and constitution, is very 
important. Not only does it harmonize with a similar doctrine taught 
in the Bible, " Deal justly p u Owe no man any thing," " Whatsoever 
ye would that others should do unto you, do ye even so unto them," 
" Lie not, but obey the truth," " Righteousness exalteth a nation," 
&c. &c, in texts without number ; but what is still more, it greatly 
enhances the moral virtue of doing right, as well as the heinousness 
of doing- wrong. It gives to the right a distinctive character, a spe- 
cific nature of its own, thereby imparting to it a moral beauty, power, 
and grandeur which, if it did not possess, it would be tame and pow- 
erless, as well as destitute of all inherent, specific character, while it 
reveals in bold relief the naked deformity and inherent moral turpi- 
tude and heinousness of sin. This principle renders right and wrong 
positive in their characters. In maintaining the doctrines of Christ- 
ianity, this inherentness of right and wrong, of virtue and sin, is all- 
important, and even fundamental. It is, indeed, a corner stone of the 
whole superstructure of Christianity. Overthrow this original 
constitutionality of right and wrong, and you take away the corner 
stone of Christianity, and overthrow its whole superstructure ; but 
establish it, and at one fell swoop, infidelity is overthrown. On this 
radical point the victory turns, and Phrenology gives it to Christ- 
ianity. Christian ! dost thou fully appreciate this scientific confirma- 
tion of thy foundation stone? And ye religionists who oppose 
Phrenology, " know not what ye do," and are crucifying your best 
friend. Let me warn Christianity that she is fast losing intellectual 
ground, and that nothing but a scientific proof of her fundamental 
doctrines will arrest this onward march and these rapid strides of 
infidelity and scepticism. But Phrenology, if promulgated, will stop 
it. Its proof of this fundamental doctrine, infidelity cannot reach, 
nor scepticism resist. They are ad hominem — they go home to the 
understanding, and innate consciousness of one and all. Christianity ! 
wilt thou embrace this thy twin sister and handmaid, or wilt thou, 
unwise, ungrateful, bigoted, turn her coldly or contemptuously away % 

There is, then, constitutionally, a right, a wrong. And that right 
is enforced, is invited, by all the happiness it is possible for man to ex- 



154 what is right; and what wrong. 309 

perience in doing rignt ; that wrong is prohibited by all the punish- 
ment it is possible for man to suffer in breaking the laws of his being. 
Nor is it immaterial whether we do right or wrong. Nor are the 
motives for doing right far removed from us ; nor the penalties of do- 
ing wrong, They are not in heaven, not in hell, exclusively, nor 
even mainly. They are in us — in the happiness, in the suffering, we 
are capable of experiencing. They go right home to the inmost soul 
of every member of the human family. To do right, is our own 
highest possible interest. To do wrong, is directly, necessarily, in the 
very teeth of that interest. 

Let us all, then, strive to be right, that we may be happy, Let us 
all eschew evil, that we may escape pain. Let us avoid sin for pre- 
cisely the same reason that we would not put our hands into the 
fire, namely, because in doing wrong, we suffer its consequent penal- 
ty. Wonderful ! — the workmanship of a God ! — is this contrivance, 
this arrangement, of right and wrong. Calculated, in the highest 
possible degree, to induce men to do right, and to prevent their doing 
wrong. 



SECTION III 

what is right, and what wrong? 
" There's but one way to do a thing, and that is the right way." — Proverbs. 

Having thus shown that great first principles of right exist, and are 
founded in the very nature and constitution of things ; and, also, what 
is the nature of right and wrong ; we pass, naturally, to the applica- 
tion of this principle to what is right and wrong. On this subject, 
much diversity of opinion exists, and its proper decision will do more 
for mankind than the knowledge of any other thing whatever. In 
deciding it, Phrenology says ; " That is right which harmonizes with 
the primary nature and original constitution of all our faculties, 
and whatever violates this primary nature of any faculty, is therefore 
wrong." It moreover affirms, that all those actions, feelings, and 
opinions which harmonize with the primary nature and legitimate 
function of any or all the organs, and violate none, is right ; but that 
whatever violates any faculty is wrong — that the natural, legitimate 
exercise of any faculty is right, and its perverted action wrong, It 



310 THE PRINCIPLES OF RIGHT AND WRONG ILLUSTRATED. 155 

also shows what is the natural, and what the perverted function of any 
faculty ; and thereby furnishes us with an unerring test of every 
opinion, feeling-, and action of our whole lives. For example : You 
wish to decide whether a given business or bargain be right or wrong. 
Conscientiousness summons a moral court martial, and subpoenas the 
other faculties as witnesses. It says : ' Well, benevolence, what say- 
est thou to this bargain, or business, or act, or practice, or whatever 
is to be judged ?" If this faculty respond : " I say it will distress yon- 
der innocent man, or make that widow or orphan more wretched, 
or will grind the face of the poor, or is oppressive and cruel, or even 
is in the way of human enjoyment f conscientiousness then says, " It 
is wrong. Do not this wicked thing." " And, causality, what sayest 
thou ? v " I say its effect will be unfavorable," or, " such and such an 
effect will be unfavorable," or, " such and such a law will be violated 
thereby." Conscientiousness again puts its ban upon it. " And, 
ideality, what sayest thou?" " I say it is coarse, vulgar, disgusting, 
repulsive, and offensive to taste, as well as degrading and debasing." 
" No," responds conscientiousness, " this thing is wicked, and must 
not be done." If veneration sees that the thing proposed will conflict 
with the worship of the true God ; or friendship complains that its 
legitimate exercise will be circumscribed or wounded, ot parental love 
mourns over its injury to offspring and the young, or self-interest 
complains that it will eonflict with enlightened selfishness, by injur- 
ing the health or circumscribing legitimate enjoyments ; or time says, 
"I have more important matters on hand ;" or the organ of mus- 
cular motion says, "It will not allow me sufficient exercise;" or 
vitativeness says, " It will shorten my days" — if any of the organs 
rise up and testify against the thing to be judged, conscientiousness 
vetoes it, and then firmness and all the other faculties combine to re- 
sist it. But if enlightened benevolence says, " It will do thee good, and 
him also ;" if friendship says, " It will deepen my roots and strength- 
en my cords ;" if ideality be charmed with its beauty, causality com- 
mend its effects, time can make room for it, veneration be gratified, 
life prolonged, self-enjoyment secured, and all the other iaculties 
sanction, none condemning, conscientiousness, as judge, says, " Nei- 
ther do I condemn thee ; all is right ;" and the other faculties aid in 
its execution. This is predicated on the supposition that all the facul- 
ties act in harmony with their primary natures and legitimate func- 
tions. When any act, opinion, or feeling has thus been once decided 
upon, eventuality recollects it, and firmness abides by it. 
10 



156 FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF RIGHT AND WRONG. 311 

In still another way — by another of its principles, already explained 
—does Phrenology tell us what is right, and what not ; as well as ex- 
plain the cause of that diversity of opinions and practice as to \he 
right and wrong in opinion, feeling, and conduct. It says that the even, 
equable, or proportionate action of all the organs, is right, and the ex- 
cessive action of any, wrong. Thus, if acquisitiveness be too large, 
and benevolenee too small, Phrenology saith : " Wake up, benevo- 
lence, thou art too sluggish ; hold up, acquisitiveness, thou art too 
grasping, and dost over-reach." If cautiousness predominate, and 
combativeness be weak, it saith : " Thy fear prevents thy enjoyment, 
and retards thy success : do not thus procrastinate ;" but, if Phreno- 
logy finds cautiousness small, she saith : " Take care, take care there, 
Mr. Reckless, thou art continually injuring thyself and others, for 
want of prudence." If she find benevolence predominate, she saith . 
" Do not thus give away thy all, but reserve for thyself the means 
of sustaining life, and capital enough to acquire more property, with 
which to do still more good," If she find ideality small, she chides 
her for allowing improprieties of feeling and expression, and for not 
enjoying those rich and ever-varying beauties with which nature 
every where shines so resplendent. If veneration be small, or mar- 
vellousness, (faith,) be feeble, she saith to the former : " Lengthen 
thy prayers, and pour out thy soul oftener in worship and praise to the 
God who made thee ;" and to the latter she saith : " Away with thy 
scepticism, and let thy faith grow till from a mustard seed it becometh 
a great tree." And so of all the other faculties. It saith to the feeble 
ones : " Quicken your actions ;" and, to the predominant one : " Re- 
strain your excesses." It would fain keep them all along together, 
pari passu, and combine all into one harmonious whole. 

By another of its fundamental principles, and one already given, 
does Phrenology proclaim the right, and point out the wrong ; name- 
ly, by that of the supremacy of the moral sentiments and intellect over 
the propensities ; or, at least, as the constitutional guides a?id govern- 
ors of the latter ; but, having already explained the principle fully, its 
application, in this connexion, is left for every reader to make. Let him 
who would know whether a given thing be right or wrong, stop and 
ask, whether the thing to be adjudged be in harmony with the dictates 
of enlightened intellect, and the normal constitution, or the primitive 
funtions of the moral sentiments, and the answer will soon tell hin 
what is right, and what wrong. 

I have said that Phrenology shows why men differ in matters of 
right and duty. Men's opinions and practices as to right, duty, &c, 



312 WHY MEN DIFFER IN MATTERS OF RIGHT AND DUTY. 157 

will accord with their phenological developments. That is, different 
phrenological developments cause men to think and feel differently on 
these subjects. To illustrate : Suppose conscientiousness be alike in 
two persons, A. and B. 3 and full in both, or five in a scale from 1 to 7. 
A. has large benevolence, and small acquisitiveness and veneration ; 
while B. has small benevolence, and large acquisitiveness and vene- 
ration. A.'s conscientiousness combines with his large benevolence, 
and makes him feel that he is in duty bound to do all the good he can, 
and that it is wrong to take a large price from a poor man because he 
can get it ; while his small acquisitiveness induees him to give the 
poor man more for an article than it is really worth ; yet, as his vene- 
ration is small, his conscience does not require him to go to church. 
But the large acquisitiveness and small benevolence of B. warpe his 
lesser organ of conscientiousness, and allow him to take from the 
same poor man more money for a thing than it is really worth, be- 
cause the poor man can do no better. His large acquisitiveness throws 
dust into the eyes of smaller conscientiousness and benevolence, and 
hushes up their feebler remonstrances, while he grinds the face of the 
poor, takes advantage of their distress, and extorts money from them, 
because they are in his power, though he is wringing out their very 
heart's blood. Still, this same conscience, though it allows acquisi- 
tiveness to cheat and extort, also combines with veneration, and com- 
pels him to go to meeting the next Sabbath, to read his Bible, say his 
prayers, and go to the communion table — to " sand the rice, water 
the gin, and then come in to prayers." The conscientiousness of A. 
would torment him for extorting the money extorted by B., just as 
much as that of B. would torment him for not praying and going to 
church ; while the conseientiousness of B. would acquit him for ex- 
torting this money from the poor man, or taking the advantage of 
him in a bargain, as much as that of A. acquits him for not praying 
and attending church. The opinions of these two men as to what is 
right and wrong, are directly opposite ; each condemning what the 
other approves, and each approving what the other condemns, and both 
reading each other out of heaven, the one for the other's extortion, 
and the other for the other's impiety. Now, Phrenology condemns 
them both, and yet approves both. It saith unto A., " Thou art right 
in thy humanity, (provided thou dost not injure thyself and those de- 
pendent on thee, by giving too much,) but wrong in thy impiety, 
Give to the poor, but worship also thy God." Phrenology then turns 
to B. and saith, " Thy devotion is right, but thy extortion is wrong. 
Reduce thy acquisitiveness j increase thy benevolence ; for it is wrong 



158 WHY MEN DIFEER AS TO RIGHT AND WRONG, 313 

for thee thus to oppress and distress these poor sufferers." But D. 
has all these organs large and active. He makes money, but always 
makes it honestly, and never distresses others. He also gives to the 
poor, but not to his own injury, or that of those dependent on him ; 
and worships his God, both socially and in secret. His conduct 
Phrenology fully approves, and his conscience makes him happy. 

Thus, large conscientiousness, combining with large domestic or- 
gans, and weaker intellectual and moral faculties, tells its posseesor 
that his main duty consists in taking care of his family ; and adds, 
" He that provideth not for his family is worse than an infidel ;" but 
this organ, when it combines with small domestic organs and large be- 
nevolence, tells its possessor that his duty consists mainly in doing 
good to the heathen or to mankind in general, though, in so doing his 
family suffer, and quotes the Scripture, " He that giveth to the poor 
lendeth to the Lord." He who has large conscientiousness and ideal- 
ity thinks it his duty to keep his person neat and nice — to shave and 
change his linnen often,, though he make some poor slave work 
half the time in order to keep himself clean and nice. A fashiona- 
ble lady, (and all fashionable women are ladies, of course, however ill 
bred, for fashion " hideth" (and maketh) " a multitude of sins,") with 
more vanity than sense, but having large veneration, full conscien- 
tiousness, large ideality, very large Approbativeness, a silly mother, 
and a soft-soap preacher, feels it to be her imperious duty to go to 
church, always provided that she can go dressed in the very top of 
the fashion, show a wasplike waste, and wear a half bushel bag of 
bran or a small bale of cotton ; but if she can not go thus fashiona- 
bly, foolishly, and wickedly attired, she does not feel it her duty to go 
at all, because her dress is not decent ; for it would be very wrong in- 
deed for her to go to church without being decently (fashionably) 
dressed, lest her dress should attract attention ; though if her extreme 
fashions should attract the gaze of all present, that would be all right ; 
(how very tender some people's consciences are, though, about certain 
matters !) but the conscientiousness of another lady, who has large in- 
tellectual and moral organs, feels it to be her duty not to dress, and 
frowns upon our scrupulous fashionables. Conscientiousness with 
acquisitiveness makes one feel it to be his duty to make and hoard mo- 
ney ; but with acquisitiveness small, that it is wrong to devote all his 
energies to amassing paltry wealth ; with self-esteem large, that it is 
his first duty to take care of self — but with this organ small and be- 
nevolence large, that it is his duty to serve others first, to the neglect 
and even injury of self. And the greater the number of faculties 



314 THE PRINCIPLE OF RIGHT AND WRONG. 159 

brought into simultaneous or combined action, the greater the diversi- 
ty of opinion and conduct as to what is right and wrong. 

The reader will thus perceive that the same principle which was 
pointed out in regard to veneration, showing that the organs give us 
our views of the character of God, while veneration falls down and wor- 
ships, applies also to conscientiousness ; the other faculties biasing our 
moral opinion and conduct, and then conscientiousness impelling us 
to do what these other organs tell us is right. And as this principle, 
when applied to veneration, tells us the true character and attributes 
of God, when all are equally developed and not perverted ; so when 
it is applied to conscientiousness, it tells us what is right and wrong 
in itself; for he who has all the organs equally developed and un- 
perverted, will take correct views of right, and do accordingly — will 
think it right to take care of his family, to make money, to defend the 
truth, and the poor, to be guarded and careful to dress respectably, to 
worship his God, to observe and admire the beautifnl ; to do good at 
home and abroad, to take care of self, but not to be too selfish, and so 
of all other faculties. He, therefore, whose organs are most uniform 
and not perverted by education, will form the most correct opinions as 
to right, and live the best life ; but he whose head is uneven, some of his 
organs large and others small, will be lame, and warped, and bruised, 
and zig-zag in his moral conduct and opinions. Hence, also, by ex- 
amining his own head, every individual can see wherein his own 
standard of right and wrong in conduct and belief, departs from this 
the only true standard ; and wherein it accords with it ; so that, by 
putting his intellect over against his excesses and defects, he can see 
and remedy defects. This moral formula is the test and touch- stone, 
by which to try every opinion, and judge every act of his whole life. 
If any organ be deficient, Phrenology will analyze that organ, and 
tell how much more of that ingredient he requires in his composition, 
and also help him to supply it in theory if not in fact, and also tell him 
what organs are too large, and therefore what kind of feelings and ac- 
tions to suppress in order to be virtuous arid happy. This single prin- 
ciple, this moral formula, is worth more than all the works on ethics 
and speculative theology ever written. It shows every man what 
colored glasses he has on, and what ingredients are requisite to restore 
to them the color of truth and the practice of right. Guided by this 
principle, men will no longer regard themselves as infallible, any 
more than when they know that they have on green glasses, or pink 
glasses, or dark glasses, will they contend that every thing at which 
they look is green, or pink, or dark, just because it looks so to them ; 



160 ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE PRINCIPLES OF RIGHT AND WRONG. 315 

but they will say, " I know that my glasses are green, and you know 
that your glasses are pink, and you know that yours are dark, so that 
the same objects look green to me, but pink to you and dark to you. 
Though it really seems to me that these objects are green, to you, that 
they are all pink, and to you that they are all dark, still we can none 
of us tell what the real color is, till we get off our colored glasses — 
till our organs are equally active, or else till intellect can make all 
necessary allowances. Then all objects will appear alike. Till then, 
we will not each read the others out of heaven, just because we wear 
different colored glasses. No, we will be charitable — will each re- 
collect our own liabilities to error, and not condemn those who differ 
from us. Will not this principle, if applied, heal over and effectually 
cure those sectarian isms — those " wounds, and bruises, and putrify- 
ing sores," which now cover poor, sickly, feeble Christianity " from 
the crown of the head to the sole of her foot?" Each will not then 
say to his neighbor, " know ye the Lord" as I know him, or I'll not 
have you in my heaven, " but all shall know him" right and alike. 

" Fly swifter round, ye wheels of time, 
And bring this welcome day." 
Shine brighter yet thou star of Gall : 
Teach us thy better way. 

This principle also shows how it is, that some men can be very 
wicked, and yet very religious, and even pious. A few anecdotes, by 
way of illustration : A certain deacon, that lived less than fifty miles 
above Troy, N. Y., the leader of his society, earnest, gifted, sincere 
in prayer, eloquent in exhortation, the right-hand man of the minister, 
and forward and zealous in all matters appertaining to religion, but 
somewhat slippery in money matters ; set up a store, and, in buying 
his goods in Troy, gave his minister, Mr. L., who was well known in 
that city, as his reference. Shortly aiterwards this minister being 
down to Troy, was beset by the pious deacon's creditors, to know 
what for a man he was, and whether he could be safely trusted, &c. 
The reverend gentleman hesitated and evaded, but, finally, answered : 
" To tell you the truth — God-ward, he is honest ; but, towards man, 
rather twistical." 

Mr. S., being hired by a neighbor to help move a family to the west, 
stole several things, axes and other things, as he could lay hands on 
them along the road ; and some things from his employer ; and yet, 
all the way along, he talked religion to those he met, both in the bar- 
rooms, and stopping them by the way-side. 



316 DEPRAVITY. 161 

Other similar cases have been reported in the Journal. [See that 
of the girl who would steal, and also that of Mr. N., of U., who pray- 
ed so fervently sabbath days, and was converted by every revival that 
came along, and yet sought and took every opportunity to cheat his 
neighbors — both of which are given in Vol. IV.] Henry A. Wise 
is both a zealous Christian, and yet a great duellist. Cases analogous 
to these occur in every community, and in nearly every church. 
Nor are these pious sinners hypocrites. They are sincere in both 
their sinfulness and their religion. And the reason why some men 
are both great sinners, and yet great religionists, is two fold: first, 
some of their animal propensities are powerfully developed, along 
with some strong religious organs, which act by turns, and thus ren- 
der them very zealous in religion at one time, and yet very immoral at 
other times. 

Much has been said of late in denunciation of those ministers who 
have been guilty of immoral conduct, as if they had all along been 
guilty of the most consummate hypocricy from the commencement of 
their career until the disclosure of their crimes. This is by no means 
necessarily the case. They m,ay have been truly religious, sincerely 
godly, at the very time in which they were indulging unbridled lust ; 
for it is possible, it is not uncommon, for the propensities to act at the 
same time that the moral faculties are in exercise, and even in combi- 
nation therewith, thereby producing animal religion. Secondly, 
their organs may differ, are likely to differ, from your own — causing 
them to regard that as allowable which your organs condemn. Be 
charitable, therefore. Put the best construction possible on the faults, 
foibles, errors, selfishness, sinfulness of your fellow-men. But, more 
of this hereafter. 



SECTION IV. 

DEPRAVITY. ITS ORIGIN ITS EXTENT — ITS CONDITIONS ITS CAUSES — 

ITS REMEDY. 

Having proved the existence of sin, as well as shown its rationale, 
we pass naturally to consider its origin ; its extent, whether total or 
partial ; its conditions ; its causes ; and how to obviate them, and thus 
diminish it — questions on which the religious world have been divid- 
ed, and yet questions which the happiness of man requires to be 



162 DEPRAVITY. ITS ORIGIN. 317 

settled. What, then, saith the nature of man, touching these points? 

First, its totality ; or what is called total depravity ; original sin, 
&c. I will not attempt to state, refute, or establish any of the num- 
berless views of this doctrine entertained by the different religious 
sects ; but shall proceed to show the phrenological doctrine touching 
this point. It knows nothing about any other original sin than that 
contained in the doctrines of hereditary descent, presented in the last and 
present volumes of the Phrenological Journal. That the iniquities of 
parents — the violations of both the natural and the moral laws — are 
transmitted from parents to children, it fully establishes. If a parent, 
or a succession of parents, violate the laws of physiology so as to 
induce a consumptive tendency, the children are born with that dis- 
ease actually fastened upon them. So of cancerous, apoplectic, bilious, 
nervous, and other affections, and indeed, of all physical diseases, and 
of all predispositions. A similar principle applies to the transmis- 
sion of moral maladies, be it insanity, or inordinate love of money, or 
love of liquor, or revenge, or irritability, or lust, or deception, and 
with all forms and degrees of sinful predispositions. And so also of 
length of life, health, strength, buoyancy of spirits, and also kindness, 
amiableness, integrity, devotion, talents of all kinds. So, indeed, of 
of all the qualities and tendencies of our nature. The conditions, 
goodness, badness, sinfulness, virtue, of the parents, and indeed of the 
ancestors for generations back, effect the nature, goodness, badness, 
of the children, to give them originally a good or a bad tone or direc- 
tion* Like parents, like children, is its motto, as it certainly is the 
motto of truth. But, about any other kind or degree of original sin, 
or total, innate depravity, it knows nothing. It says, that the sin of 
the first parents of our race, is capable of tainting all their posterity 
— " the sins of the parents are visited upon their children unto the 
third and fourth generations of the disobedient," (when the race runs 
out,) but," otherwise, unto thousands of the disobedient. Aside from 
this original sin, it knows no other.f Still, it does not positively say 
there is no other. But if there be, it is a revelation of the Bible y not 
of Phrenology. 

* For a full exposition of the doctrine of the hereditary influences, the reader 
is referred to the Author's work entitled, " Hereditary Descent." its laws and 
facts. 

t In conversing recently with a Dutch Reformed, though formerly Congrega- 
tional, clergyman, on hereditary descent, he stated it as his full belief that origi- 
nal sin, or innate depravity . consisted in this doctrine of hereditary descent, and 
was explained by it. No one who knows him, will for a moment doubt his 
41 total" Orthodoxy as to Calvinism. I also heard it from a staunch orthodox 



318 ITS EXTENT AND CONDITIONS. 163 

Another principle of Phrenology deserves at least mention here, 
though it may not bear much upon the original sin advocated by 
orthodoxy. It is this. Every primary faculty of man, is good, and its 
normal, constitutional function, is virtuous. Man's original nature is 
right. 

The depravity of man, however, Phrenology certainly recognizes, 
in the fact that the natural exercise and function of all his faculties are 
more or less perverted and distorted in nearly or quite all mankind. 
Few, if any, live up to their original natures, or are any thing near as 
good in character as they are in their developments. The perverted 
and excessive action of the faculties in children is much less than in 
adults, and their heads are better. No one can look upon a healthy 
child born of really good parents, without seeing much to admire — 
very much that is sweet, lovely, angelic. A man's business and cir- 
cumstances tend greatly to increase his virtue or vice, as do also his 
physical habits, what he eats and drinks, temperance and intemperance, 
associates, &c. &c. The artificial state of society in which we live, 
the inducements and temptations to sin which every where beset us, 
the universal scrambling after money, and rush for places of profit and 
power, corrupting examples, wrong education, and thousands of simi- 
lar causes that are continuous and powerful in their action, greatly 
enhance this depravity, if they do not cause much of it, by distorting 
and perverting the nature and conduct of man. But, as to either the 
innate or the total depravity of man, Phrenology is clear and demon- 
strative. It says that every primary faculty of man, as originally con- 
stituted, is good and right, and that the legitimate exercise of any and 
every faculty, upon its own appropriate object, and in a proper degree. 
is virtuous — that no faculty is constitutionally bad ; that all are good 
in themselves, and in their primitive action and function, and that de- 
pravity forms no constituent or neeessarily accompanying part of the 
nature of man, but is a perversion and violation of that nature. Far- 
ther than the hereditary descent of qualities from parents to their de- 
scendants, already alluded to, Phrenology knows nothing of man's 
depravity, either total or innate. If this fully established doctrine of 
Phrenology is found to embrace or explain the doctrines of " original 

pulpit, and an Andover educated clergyman in June 1844, and also in a recent 
conversation, found it to coincide with the views of another leading Congrega- 
tional clergyman in New England. Yet, whether this sentiment be orthodoxy 
t>r not, is left for others to say. I give it merely as his opinion, and leave it to 
others for consideration. 



164 CAUSE OF DEPFwAVITY. 319 

sin" or " total depravity," by showing that children inherit from their 
parents particular predispositions, propensities, tastes, aptitudes, pas- 
sions, tendencies, and mental and physical qualities, then Phrenology 
may possibly be said to recognize these doctrines. 

At all events, children do inherit depraved propensities from their 
parents, and also virtuous predispositions. Still, these hereditary ten- 
dencies may be counteracted. Though insanity, which consists in the. 
over or exalted action of one or more faculties, and liability to be 
wrought up to this exalted pitch of derangement, be hereditary ; yet, 
by avoiding those causes of excitement which are calculated to devel- 
ope and increase this naturally excessive susceptibility, as well as by 
applying causes calculated to allay constitutional excitability, and to 
soothe and relax ; no one, however crazy his ancestors may have, been, 
need become deranged. Indeed, this very susceptibility, instead of 
degenerating into insanity, if properly managed, is calculated to aug- 
ment his talents and happiness ; for derangement is only the excess of 
that very action which, when healthy, gives talent and enjoyment. 

If this be construed so as to militate against the doctrine of innate 
depravity and original sin, still it is clearly a doctrine of Phrenology, 
and as such I state it and leave it. Whatever other doctrines con- 
flict with it are erroneous. It is not necessary for Phrenology to con- 
tain this doctrine of original sin, only that it should not conflict with 
it ; for, as already observed, it is not founded in the original nature of 
man, and therefore is not a doctrine of either Phrenology or Natural 
Theology. Its advocates claim it to be a doctrine of Revelation, and 
regard it as one of the doctrines of salvation by Christ. To this claim, 
Phrenology willingly accedes. 

One origin, one great procuring cause of human depravity, is to be 
found in a disordered physiology. In my work on Education, p. 94, 
I have shown, fully and conclusively, that there existed the most inti- 
mate relations between the body and the base of the brain, or the or- 
gans of the propensities — that whatever stimulates the former, natu- 
rally, necessarily excites the latter. This law is unquestionably a 
fundamental principle of the nature of man. I have also shown in 
this work, p. — , that the ascendency of the moral sentiments and in- 
tellect, is one of the leading conditions of virtue, while the action of the 
propensities without the direction and government of intellect and the 
moral sentiments, is sinful. Now put that and that together, that 
physical inflammation and disease often excite the propensities till they 
'predominate, and thus induce sinfulness, and we see that physical 
health is indispensable to moral purity ; while one prolific cause of 



320 ITS REMEDY. • 165 

that widely extended depravity of our race is to be looked for in the 
diet and physical habits of mankind — in the enormous quantities 01 
ardent spirits, ale, beer, flesh, cucumbers, hot bread and butter, &c. 
&c, consumed. That alcoholic drinks vastly enhance the sinfulness 
and suffering of the drinker, is a matter of fact which stares us all 
fully in the face. That it does so by disordering the physiology, is 
self-evident. In no other way is it possible for matter to effect mind. 
Then why should not all physical disorder produce moral disorder ? 
Indeed, I regard sin as not unfrequently the product of a disordered 
brain, while the normal function of a healthy brain, is always virtuous. 
I regard flesh as highly corrupting to the blood, as highly inflammatory, 
and thereby, as directly calculated to inflame the base of the brain ; 
thereby producing moral imparity. Man is a physical, as well as a 
moral being. He is under the dominion of physical laws, as well as 
of those that are moral. Why, then, should not the violation of the 
physical laws be as sinful as that of the moral, and vice versa of their 
obedience ? Indeed, the moral cannot possibly be obeyed unless the 
physical are first obeyed. Virtue and vice, sin and holiness, happi- 
ness and misery, depend for man on the conditions of the body — on 
health and sickness, what, and how much we eat and drink, how 
much, and where we sleep, whether we exercise or not, &c. &c, than 
is generally supposed. A child is more cross and fretful, and there- 
fore more depraved, when a little unwell, than when not so. Eating 
green fruit, therefore, or doing anything else to impair its health, in- 
duces this fretfulness, and therefore augments depravity. Similar 
illustrations innumerable, apply to adults — to the whole human family. 
And the way to reform men morally, is to reform them physically. 
But the principle is probably clear, and the inference most important. 

Let me not be understood, however, to ascribe all sin to physical 
diseases. Volition also enters into the composition of sin. An act 
cannot be called culpable unless it was done voluntarily. This is a 
matter of consciousness. The motive, as well as the act committed, 
goes far towards rendering the doer criminal or innocent. We can- 
not feel really guilty for any act, however wrong in itself, when our 
intentions were right. Nor can we help feeling condemned for an art 
good in itself, but committed with wrong intentions. When we have 
injured others unintentionally, we may feel sorry, but we cannot feel 
condemned. Conscientiousness can act only in conjunction with 
the power of will. 

Intellect, is also a necessary ingredient in accountability. An idiot 
cannot be morally accountable, for, by supposition, he has no intellect 
to guide his choice. 



|56 PUNISHMENT. 321 

So derangement diminishes accountability: and so does all those 
physical disorders already spoken of, as inducing sinful actions. As 
far as they affect us they are upon a par with. derangement. 

In short, the great Phrenological law is this. As the even, uniform 
action of all the faculties, constitutes virtue, and also gives us correct 
ideas of what is right, so our accountability is greater or less, accord- 
ing as all our physical and moral faculties are more or less perfectly 
developed. The parable of the talents is a happy illustration of the 
same doctrine. Our moral accountability increases as does our moral 
and intellectual capacity. In Phrenological language : the more fully 
and evenly developed our faculties, the more material has conscience 
with which to operate, and therefore the more accountable the subject, 
and vice versa. This is the phrenological principle. Every reader 
can run it out in its ramified applications for himself. 



SECTION V. 

PUNISHMENT, HERE AND HEREAFTER. 



Having already demonstrated the existence of right and wrong, only 
other names for virtue and sinfulness, it remains to discuss the rewards 
of virtue and the punishment of sin. It has all along been implied, it 
has been even demonstrated, that goodness is rewardable, and sin pun- 
ishable. That is, obeying any and every law of our being, always 
induces a given kind and amount of pleasure as a reward, while vio- 
lating them inevitably brings down upon the transgressor, and upon all 
affected thereby, a given kind and degree of pain, as a penalty conse- 
quent upon such violations. In the very act of such obedience and in 
all its consequences, to ourselves, to all concerned, we enjoy, whilst in 
and by the transgression, and in all its consequences, we suffer. This 
is a certain, uniform, universal fact. The penalty goes along with the 
transgression. The reward, with the obedience. Each are linked 
together as causes and effects, and are therefore certain. They are 
inseparable each from the other. It is not possible to sin without suf- 
fering, or to suffer without somebody having sinned to cause it. Nor 
is it possible to do right without receiving pleasure therein ourselves, 
and also making happy as far as the act in question at all affects others. 
Farthermore. Different kinds and degrees of rewards and punish- 
ment accompany the obedience and violation of the several laws. 
And these are proportionate to the value or importance of the law 



322 PUNISHMENT, HERE AND HEREAFTER. 167 

obeyed or broken. As, the greater any blessing, the greater the curse 
of its perversion, so the obedience or violation of the several laws, for 
both amount in fact to the same thing. 

Not only does this doctrine of proportion exist between the impor- 
tance of the several laws and the penalty of their infraction, and vice 
versa of their obedience, but there is something in the very charac- 
ter of the pain or pleasure, analogous to the nature of the law broken 
or obeyed. Thus the obedience or violation of the natural laws, bring 
physical happiness or suffering, while the violation or obedience of the 
mental or moral laws, brings mental or moral suffering or pleasure. 
The violation of the law of reason, induces error., and this error pun- 
ishes us in a variety of ways, according to the nature of the error im- 
bibed; and vice versa of correct reasoning. Obeying the law of 
friendship, induces pleasure in that department of our nature, and in 
all its dependencies, and vice versa of its infraction. 

But this whole range of thought is condensed in this — the self-acting 
of the various laws. Every obedience to law rewards itself. Every 
violation of law punishes itself. In the very act of obedience consists 
the pleasure. In and by the transgression occurs the pain. Hence, 
the analogy between the two on the one hand, and the pleasures of 
obedience, or the pains of its disobedience on the other. Hence, also, 
the universality, of the rewards and punishments. 

This doctrine of the self-acting of all the laws of our being, shows 
how it is that we shall be punished, both here and hereafter. It repu- 
diates the doctrine of a literal hell of fire and brimstone, we shall be 
as it were, chained to ourselves — chained to the characters we form 
here, and to their consequences. This will coustitute all the hell we 
shall ever experience. Heaven consists in doing right, and hell in 
doing wrong. Both are conditions, rather than places. They are in 
us, and form a part of us ; so that we need not wait for them hereafter. 
Not that Phrenology repudiates the doctrine of a heaven and a hell 
hereafter, but it shows what constitutes heaven, namety, obedience to 
the laws of our being, and what makes a hell, namely, the violation 
of these laws, both here and also hereafter. 

Again : virtue and vice are self-perpetuating and self-progressive. 
The Phrenological doctrine of the increase of organs by exercise, and 
of their diminution by inaction, establishes this point beyond a doubt 
As already shown, Phrenology establishes the doctrine of a future 
Itate of being, and that to us, as us — to us in our own appropriate per- 
sonality ; and as the same beings then that we are now ; for the argu- 
ment already shown to prove a future state of existence, when applied 



168 PUNISHMENT, HERE AND HEREAFTER. 323 

to our own personal existence, also proves that personal existence — 
proves that toe ourselves here, shall be ourselves hereafter — shall be the 
same beings here as there, except important changes ; yet these chan- 
ges will not affect our identity, or our personality, or our existence as 
ourselves. That is, we shall be the same beings there that we are 
here, except changes analogous to those that occur between infancy 
and old age. 

Since, then, we shall exist hereafter in our own appropriate per- 
sons, and be the same beings there as here, we must of course be mo- 
rally accountable there as well as here, and also, as such, punishable. 
Otherwise, one fundamental condition of our present existence will be 
wanting, which will destroy our identity and personality. Now, add 
to this the Phrenological doctrine of progression in virtue and vice — 
the doctrine that the natural tendency of goodness is to grow better, 
and of depravity to become worse, and we have all the principal mate- 
rials of all the heaven and hell that await us hereafter. What influ- 
ences may be thrown around us to induce (not compel) us to choose 
the good and eschew the wrong, Phrenology saith not. These influ- 
ences may be veiy powerful, and be calculated to make the good bet- 
ter and the bad worse, or to make all better, and of course the more 
happy ; but I am aware of but one Phrenological principle that bears 
on this point. That principle is, that as sin consists in the predomi- 
nance of the propensities, and as death is likely to weaken them, per- 
haps destroy many of them, and also relieve us of all those causes of 
depravity which come through a disordered physiology, the propen- 
sities will not then predominate. Therefore we shall cease to sin ; 
cease to suffer. Still, there is too much of theory about both these 
opposing inferences to render either demonstrative. But I cannot 
resist the conviction, to which Phrenology brings us by several roads, 
that as long as we exist, that is forever, we shall reap the rewards of 
our conduct in this life. In the chapter on hope, when showing the 
juxta position of hope and conscientiousness, I think I demonstrated 
a principle that bears on this point. Still the principle being before the 
reader, he will draw his own deductions. Let it be borne in mind that 
this work purports to give, not the theology of its author, but of Phre- 
nology ; supposing this science to be true. Individual opinions should 
have no place in the work. The author has sedulously endeavored to 
deduce every doctrine presented in these pages legitimately from some 
fully established principle of Phrenology. 

Let it also be distinctly remembered, however, as all along implied, 
that Phrenology teaches natural theology only — the moral nature 



324 PENITENCE AND PARDON. 169 

and constitution of man alone — and not the doctrine or means of sal* 
ration by Christ. Though it teaches the doctrine of penitence and 
pardon, on which salvation by Christ is founded, yet it neither reveals 
a Savior, nor shows what we must do to be saved. The one specific 
object of Revelation, appears to me to be, to reveal a Savior and dis- 
close the means of salvation, not to furnish a code of morals for the 
guidance of man's conduct. The fall of Adam and salvation by Christ, 
occurred after the nature of man was completed, and are extraneous 
to that nature ; so that Phrenology, which unfolds the constitution and 
laws of man's nature, could not have any specific bearing on these 
points. The code of Phrenology was sealed before a Savior was 
needed, so that those doctrines connected with salvation, such as the 
doctrines of the trinity, atonement, total depravity, special divine influ- 
ences, and kindred doctrines, are all left to be developed by revelation. 
For Phrenology to claim their revelation, would be plagiarism, and 
derogatory to the Bible, to reveal which is its main design. Whether 
Phrenology developes principles relative to the atonement of offences 
by a third person or not, I know not, but I believe that this also is left 
to be revealed by the Bible. 



SECTION n 

PENITENCE AND PARDON. 

" Then came Peter to him and said, Lord how often shall my brother sin against 
me and I forgive him ? Till seven times ? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto 
thee, until seven times, but, until seventy times seven." 

In morals, the doctrine of penitence and pardon, is one of great im- 
portance — is even fundamental. It is also undecided. Christianity 
maintains, or rather is based in the doctrine of the forgiveness of sin, 
or of atonement and salvation by Christ. Infidelity scouts this doc- 
trine on the ground that it directly contravenes every law of nature, and 
argues that the violation of every law of nature induces its own penalty, 
while its observance brings with it its own reward — that this doctrine 
of penitence and forgiveness shields the guilty from deserved punish- 
ment, allowing them to violate the inexorable laws of their being, and 
yet escape their penalties — and there is nothing in sorrow for sin at all 
calculated to ward off its fearful penalties — that if a man take arsenic 



170 PENITENCE AND PARDON. 325 

or laudanum, and the moment afterwards is deeply penitent thereof, yet 
that this penitence does not in the least stay the effects of the deadly 
poison — that even when we sin ignorantly, the effect is the same and 
the penalty sure ; and that therefore this doctrine of forgiveness of sin 
is utterly unphilosophical, and right in the very teeth of all that we 
know to be true in nature touching this point. 

And now, Christian, where is thy answer ? A " thus saith the Lord" 
will not do, for the infidel does not admit the truth of revelation, but 
requires an answer drawn from nature, and founded in the constitu- 
tion of man, or in some fully established moral principle. It may 
safely be said that nature no where furnishes any evidence of this lead, 
ing Christian doctrine ; but so far from it, is directly opposed to it, be- 
cause her natural and physiological, as well as moral laws, are inexo- 
rable, and the punishment attached to their violation certain. The 
Christian is nonplussed. Nothing in nature affords him any aid, but 
everything is against him. Phrenology now kindly steps forward to 
his aid, and says to Infidelity, " Cease thy triumphant boasting, for this 
Christian doctrine has its counterpart in the nature of man." One of 
the functions of conscientiousness is to be sorry when we are convinced 
of having done wrong, and another is forgiveness of the penitent. I 
have examined tens of thousands of heads, and am plain to say, that 
large conscientiousness not only experiences deep remorse and contri- 
tion when sensible of having sinned, but also freely and fully forgives 
the penitent ; but, with combativeness and destructiveness also large, it 
never will forgive the sinner till he shows penitence. Till he breaks 
down with sorrow for sin, it pursues him with unrelenting moral in- 
dignation, and the more so the larger this organ ; but, the moment it 
discovers penitence, it says, " 1 forgive," " go thy way, sin no more." 
It is not in the heart of a conscientious and benevolent man to punish 
an erring but penitent sinner, who is humbly supplicating pardon for 
sins committed. Until it does discover this penitence, however, it says, 
" Let law have its course. He has sinned, and his punishment is de- 
served. Let it be inflicted without mercy." But the very instant it 
discovers sorrow for sin, its sword of justice is sheathed. Its primi- 
tive feelings are subdued. Its moral indignation is disarmed and 
smothered, and succeeded by full forgiveness. But I never yet have 
found the man with small, conscientiousness, and large combativeness 
and destructiveness, who showed signs either of penitence for his own 
sins, or of forgiveness of others. A story of one will serve for all. At 
Cambridge, in 1838, 1 examined the head of an old college mate having 
this organization. The night following, he conceived himself insulted 



326 IT IS OUR DUTY — OUR PRIVILEGE TO FORGIVE THE PENITENT. 171 

by a friend, whom he accordingly challenged. His friend apologized. 
" But what does your apology have lo do with my wounded honor 1 
Does, your sorrow atone for your insult? No! Apology or no 
apology, I will have satisfaction." If benevolence be large, it may 
stay the uplifted hand of vengeance, but the old grudge will still rankle 
in the bosom. A cordial reconciliation is impossible, however hum- 
ble and penitent the transgressor. But large conscientiousness fully 
and freely forgives, freely restores the guilty to confidence and affec- 
tion, and even bestows increased favors upon him. 

The doctrine of penitence and pardon then, so essential to the main- 
tenance of Christianity, is proved by Phrenology to form a part and 
parcel of the nature of man, and to be consistent with that nature. 
True, Phrenology says nothing about forgiveness and salvation by 
Christ. It proves that the great element or principle of forgiveness is 
not only not inconsistent with the nature of man, but is actually en- 
grafted on that nature. It proves the basis or ground work of this 
Christian doctrine, and leaves it for the Bible to say how and by whom, 
we are to be forgiven. Overthrow this doctrine of forgiveness, and 
Christianity is overthrown, and even razed from its very foundations ; 
but establish it, and you thereby establish the fundamental basis of for- 
giveness by Christ. Phrenology, as already seen, proves this doc- 
trine of forgiveness to be a function of conscientiousness, and to be 
engrafted in the nature of man, and then leaves it for the Bible to tell 
us how we are to be saved from the consequences of sin. Tell me. 
Christian, art thou sufficiently thankful for this timely aid ? Wilt thou 
not embrace and kiss thy twin sister and thy handmaid ? How un- 
grateful is this nineteenth century Christianity (falsely so called,) in 
thus turning its twin sister out of doors ! 

Let me not be understood to say that we can sin and not be punished 
at all. But not to the full extent. In and by the very act of trans- 
gression, we suffer. But that suffering often continues throughout this 
life. And, what is more, the natural tendency of sin is to augment 
itself But penitence induces reform — always, necessarily, and thus 
both arrests the increase of the transgression, and consequently stays 
the penalty that would otherwise have occurred, as well as tends 
towards healing the wound already made. 

This principle shows that it is our duty, our privilege, to forgive the 
penitent. Our fellow men wrong us ; wrong others. At first, we feel 
disposed to pursue them with the uplifted hand of punishment. But 
this principle stays that hand. It teaches us that to " err is human : to 
forgive, divine." " Let him that is without sin, cast the first stone." 



172 WE SHOULD FORGIVE THE PENITENT. 327 

Sinful man should not be censorious. Why is he so much so ? Do 
they who condemn others, think they are perfect ? Should not they 
forgive who pray to be forgiven % How many, themselves no incon- 
siderable sinners, essay to pray " Forgive us our sins as we forgive 
those who trespass against us," and yet are unsparing not in their cen- 
sure merely, but in their ceaseless condemnation of those who are even 
no worse than they are. This is not Phrenology. It is not Bible. 
It is not Christianity. Forgiveness was one of the greatest lessons 
taught by the great Teacher and Exemplar of mankind. " If thine 
enemy hunger, feed him." " He that smiteth thee on the one cheek, 
turn to him the other also." This is Christianity. This is Phreno- 
logy. And he is the best Christian who is the most forgiving. One 
of the very best of men it was my happy lot ever to know, was one of 
the most forgiving. He will take an erring brother by the hand and 
tell him, " sin no more," but not cast him off because he had fallen. 
Above all things, because a man has one " easily besetting sin," should 
he not be condemned as a bad man in all things. And yet the general 
say is, " He that will lie, will steal." As though a man could not be 
guilty of one sin without being black-hearted throughout, and given to 
all manner of wickedness. One propensity may be strong, yet others 
not so, and the moral organs generally large. That propensity may 
overcome him, and yet he be at heart good, and correct in all other 
respects. Or, under some powerful temptation, he may give way for a 
single moment, only to repent and abhor himself in sackcloth and ashes 
therefor, and yet be cast out of society, and by those, too, who call 
themselves Christians ; though a rose by any other name would smell 
as sweetly. Especially should this forgiving spirit be manifested to- 
wards the young. They often sin from impulse merely. Forgive 
and restore them, and they will reform, whereas, if not forgiven, but 
blamed and cast off, they would plunge again into the vortex of sin 
and misery, from which they might otherwise have been saved. 

Look again at the practical utility of the application of this principle 
of forgiveness. As long as the drunkard was cast out of society for 
being a drunkard, and treated with contempt therefor, he continued 
to drink. But when he was taken by the hand of brotherly feeling by 
Washingtonianism,* and restored to his lost standing in society, and 

* By many good men, and even Temperance advocates, Washingtonianism is 
held in light estee/n. They say, " Oh yes, it has done good to be sure, but, but, 
but." Allow me to say, that nearly every distinctive feature of Washingtonian- 
ism is founded in a principle of the nature of man. Its forgiving spirit pre-emi- 
nently. Its whole-souled benevolence. Its brotherly feeling. It8 practical 



328 THIS CHRISTIAN VIRTUE SHOULD BE CULTIVATED. 173 

made again to feel that he was a man, he reformed. But twit a Wash- 
ingtonian of having been a drunkard, and you take the most effectual 
method possible to re-plunge him into that abyss of ruin from which 
he would otherwise have escaped. As great a reform is yet destined 
to be effected among the daughters of sin, as is now in progress among 
the inebriates. It cannot be that this whole class of unfortunates must 
perish. Benevolence will not permit it. Humanity, flushed with the 
triumphs she is now achieving for the intemperate, as well as in other 
departments of philanthropy, will not allow so numerous, so miserable 
a class of human beings, to perish in their sins. And in this greatest 
of works she will not be buffeted. Success will even increase upon 
her. But, how — by what weapons — is she to achieve her conquests ? 
By forgiveness. By love. Now, when a woman sins, be she ever so 
penitent, be it that her seducer is almost wholly in fault, as is almost 
always the case, be it even that she sinned under the most solemn pro- 
mises of marriage, or by mock marriage, still, she is cast out of " gen- 
teel" society. All the respectables point at her the finger of scorn. 
Even so-called Christians are loudest in her condemnation. Every 
friend forsakes her. All employment forsakes her. Though willing 
to earn her living by any occupation however laborious, however me- 
nial, yet even that is taken from her. She must starve^ or else live com- 
pletely abandoned, however repulsive such a life. Nobly, immortal 
Mrs. Childs ! hast thou done by Amelia Norman. Beyond all praise, 
thy conduct ! Worthy of all imitation, thy example ! And it will be 
followed. ' It will rescue from " hell" thousands who must otherwise 
perish in untold misery ! A worthy sister of the great apostle and 
martyr of moral reform ! Go on. Persevere, ye sisters of moral re- 
form. Teach men practical forgiveness. Rather re-teach them; 
for, by precept upon precept, by parable after parable,* by example 
after example, did Christ Jesus inculcate, enforce, command, his disci- 
ples to exercise this pre-eminently Christian virtue. I long to see the 
Washingtonian movement extended to the moral reform cause. Won- 
ders, will this forgiving principle work. Let its virtues be tried. Let 
this rarest of Christian virtues be cultivated. And immeasurably will 
the fruits thereof gladden mankind, as well as fill the forgiving soul to 

effects and practical workings. Its narration. Hardly any thing interests the 
human mind moro : convinces, argues, persuades, instructs, or calls out all the 
faculties of the human mind, more than narrative, facts ,experiences, stories, &c 
And it is destined to teach even the learned many a lesson of human nature which 
metaphysics does not reveal. 
* See Matthew xxi. 



174 conclusion. 329 

its utmost capacity with a joy which it hath not entered into the heart 
of man to conceive.* 

CONCLUSION OF RELIGION 

Intellectual Reader ! Thou now hast an outline merely of natu- 
ral religion. To take up, point by point, the ground thus gone over, 
and compare each with the doctrines of the Bible, would be an easy 
task — so easy that each reader can do it for himself, especially aided 
by that partial comparison of them instituted as we have passed along. 
Future editions may take up this matter at this point, and prosecute 
it farther. 

Meanwhile, adieu. Excuse imperfections. Draw the mantle of 
charity over especially the censorious spirit occasionally manifested ; 
for the man would sometimes rise above both the Phrenologist and 
the Christian. But, take its subject matter, and draw therefrom what- 
ever will make thee happy, will make thee better. 

* I design soon to present this subject of the moral reform in the pages of the 
Journal. 



